


Only Fools

by hariboo



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Adaptation, Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-27
Updated: 2011-07-02
Packaged: 2017-10-20 23:10:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/218102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hariboo/pseuds/hariboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the waters of the Caribbean lie treasures unfound, leave it to Vala and Daniel to look for the one that causes them the most trouble. (Fools Gold adaptation.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

__

On July 24th 1715, in celebration of the marriage of King Philip of Spain, the largest treasure fleet in the maritime history set sail from Havana, Cuba.

 _The 500 million dollars worth of gold, silver, and jewels came to be known as the Queen’s Dowry. Unfortunately, in his eagerness to consummate the marriage, King Philip ordered the fleet to sail at the worst time of the year._

 _And so, the great galleons, heavy with their sparkling load, sailed straight into a massive hurricane…_

 _… And were never seen again._

 

 _Prologue_

It's all Sarah and Stephen's fault for thinking they needed a break from Dr. Jordan's class and for convincing him that the Caribbean was the cure. The result landed him at the dingy bar, _The Jaffa_ , in Key West. Alone. Despite spending the majority of his life surrounded by sand, he was not used to the ocean and, really, joining Sarah and Stephen for their midnight swim was not in his plans for the night. Then again, neither was staring at the brunette in the illegally short cut-offs and white tank top for half the night.

He had noticed her early on in the evening; it was hard _not_ to. She had been playing darts alongside a tall tanned man with brown but obviously greying hair and, from the looks of it, winning. That had been hours ago and the man was gone. Sarah and Stephen had left not that long ago and the brunette had seated herself not too far from him in the bar. While she kept ordering Coronas, Daniel stuck to tonic water, the impulse to head back to his hotel room staved by the fact he couldn't manage to keep his eyes from the woman for too long. Before he had left, arms around Sarah's shoulders, Stephen had (drunkenly and maybe _honestly_ ) told Daniel not to bother as the brunette was _clearly_ out of his league and while he didn't like to admit it, Daniel was pretty sure Stephen had a point.

Still, she kept moving closer to him on the bar and for _god's sake_ , sweat shouldn't look so good on anyone. Sighing, Daniel signalled the bartender for another drink when a husky voice broke in.

"Muscles, forgo the tonic water he's ordering and grabs us a couple Coronas, on me."

Daniel's head snapped to the side in disbelief and blinked as the bartender answered, "Indeed."

Next to him, near the stool to his right, now stood the brunette leaning against the bar so close to him he could see the outline of the bikini she wore underneath her top. Her smile practically blinded him, "Hi, there."

"Uh, hi," Daniel swallowed. "Um, you really don't need to get me a drink, I'm fine with my water."

"You've been drinking that all night," she smiled, "I think it's about time you upgraded."

Daniel looked towards where the bartender sat the two beers down in front of them with a nod to the woman and shook his head, eyeing the yellow liquid. "I'm not that big of a drinker."

Again, she just smiled, this time lifting the longneck bottle to her lips, taking a long drink. Daniel watched as she swallowed, following the movements in her neck and felt his muscles tensing. Blushing when he noticed her watching him.

"Can't handle it?" She titled her head towards him, her voice low.

Daniel shifted in his seat, a tightness coiling in his lower body. "Not according to my friends."

"Well now, then it's my duty to fix that." She pulled the Corona away from him and signalled the bartender again, "Two shots of Mr. Cuervo, _por favor_ , for me and my new friend. We have to teach him how we do things here." She had tilted her face towards him, half of her body practically pressed against his side and Daniel really looked for a reason to argue. He knew alcohol wasn't his best friend, the few dorm parties Sarah had dragged him to were proof of that, but none of the co-eds he encountered had smiled at him like this woman was doing right now.

He shook his head, "I really don't think I should."

She laughed, nodding a thank you as the bartender - Tealc - set the drinks down, "The Caribbean, darling, isn't about _should_ , it's about _want_. Now, do you _want_ to? I promise to take care of you." She licked her wrist and sprikling salt on the spot. Her eyes never left his and the look of fake-innocence was both damning and completely alluring on her face. Daniel nodded. He was in university, wasn't he? It was the time to live a little, right?

"One shot." He picked up the salt, following the lick and sprinkle motion she had just demonstrated.

"Deal," she smiled and handed him his shot glass.

He took it, "Daniel, by the way."

"Vala. Cheers,” she clinked her glass against his, still smiling, and Daniel knew: trouble.

The shots were downed and the night subsequently turned into a blur.

\--

The next morning Daniel woke up feeling his head was being used to open a crypt and moaned, turning to his side.

"When you said you weren't a big drinker, you weren't kidding." He heard from somewhere above him. Opening his eyes, he blinked, his eyes immediately closing again at the light that was streaming through wherever he was.

"Where am I?" he asked, groggily.

"My bed." Came the answer and right away Daniel bolted up in said bed. His head protesting every step of the way.

"Where?" He blinked against the light, his eyes now adjusting slightly to the brightness of the room where he could see the figure of a tall brunette woman. A familiar brunette woman. "Vala?"

She stepped forward, her figure unblurring and she sat down at his side. Handing him a glass of water, she also handed him his glasses, which he slipped on, wincing at the now _in focus_ brightness of the room now was.

"And here I was worried you wouldn't remember..." She smiled softly and Daniel was struck by how _pretty_ she was in the soft sunlight that streamed through her window. Last night, from what he still remembered he had been in awe of her exotic beauty. The legs too, but now, she was just really, really pretty.

"I remember _you_ , I just don't remember how I got here." He motioned to the smallish room they were in, blushing when he noticed the bed. And the fact that he was on the bed. In just his t-shirt and boxers. He gulped. Looking at Vala he noticed she wasn't that much better, but still her too big white shirt and cotton shorts, from which he could see a bikini string poking out from meant she at least had two more items of clothing on than he did.

She just patted his hand and moved off the bed, "Don't worry - nothing illicit happened, much to my disappointment, I'll let you know." She winked. "After the third shot, you were already pissed.”

“Pissed?” What? Oh, wait, the accent…

“Drunk, darling. Remind me to work on your tolerance," she smiled, "so Muscles helped me move you to my room. You're lucky I live just above the bar."

"Oh." Daniel nodded, disappointment crawling into the pit of his stomach. He didn't know whether he was disappointed he and Vala didn't sleep together or that he had bombed his first proper drinking night. He figured it was the sex, it had been a while.

"We'll go for round two tonight, deal?" Vala smiled over her shoulder, picking up a bag filled with what looked like maps. "Right now, I have to go to work. Your trousers." She tossed the latter over her shoulder.

Daniel caught them, and fighting a wave of shyness stood in the middle of Vala's room and slipped them on -- it's not like you're naked, Daniel, he thought -- staring as Vala grabbed random objects around the room.

"Where do you work?" He asked, zipping up his kakis, "I don't think we got that far last night... Uh, I mean..."

Vala turned, waving him to the door, but there was no rush in her movements, "Well, I'm a surf instructor by day, but the work I really do is I hunt for ships."

"What!?" Daniel didn’t know much about the Caribbean, but he had heard of the “new age pirates” that littered the waters, boarding fancy yachts and stealing, but he would have never pegged Vala for one. Not that she wouldn’t look amazing in billowing white shirts and leather breeches. He coughed. Wow, he really had had too much to drink last night.

Vala rolled her eyes, "Sunken ships, Daniel!” She corrected, her grin bright and warm like the sun streaming through the window. “I'm, I guess you can call me, a treasure hunter. I go diving for wrecks."

"Oh? Wait, like Spanish galleons? Have you found any? I know that Nassau and the Keys are some of the chief wreakage sites in western hemisphere. Back in Chicago I catalogued the entire contents of a ship found of the coast of Jamaica; it was called _The Dauntless_ , an English ship from the 1800's." Daniel rambled on, he had always found the stories of the sunken Caribbean ships fascinating - and one of the reason he allowed himself to be dragged down for spring break.

It was obvious from Vala's sparkling eyes that his interest had intrigued her. "You like Caribbean history?"

Daniel blushed, "I'm an archaeology major. I like history in general."

Vala's laugh was bright and bubbly, increasing Daniel's blush. "Come on then! I'll introduce you to Jack, he's the Big Kahuna for the wreck diving on the island. Used to dive for the SEALs and everything."

"Oh, I don't know, I should head back to my hotel."

"Come on, Daniel, it will be fun. Plus, what are you going to be doing in your hotel room that's more interesting that this?"

Daniel thought about the pages of notes he had on his dissertation and how Stephen and Sarah kept rolling their eyes at him when he would decide to stay inside rather than join them and licked his lips. "Okay, just don't get me killed by sharks or anything."

Vala wrapped an arm around his and pulled him forward, "Of course not, darling, I still need to get you into bed, and with less clothing."

Daniel choked, glancing at Vala, but didn't pull away.

\--

By the end of the week, they hadn't spent a night apart, Daniel had uncovered a sunken canon, as well as a knack for wreck diving, properly identifying what they found with record speed, and a taste for the ocean. On their last night, much to Sarah and Stephen’s shock, Daniel told them that he had decided to take the next semester off. Choosing to stay in Key West finishing the search for the _The San Pedro_ , which Jack and Vala were looking into. His decision hadn’t come lightly but it felt _right._ Nicholas had always told him to stop living in the books and actually _experience_ archaeology, in the sand, in the dirt, and apparently the water.

There _was_ only one thing Daniel _hadn’t_ told them and that was that the money he had received when he cashed in his plane ticket was already spent on a ring he was keeping hidden in suitcase. An impulsive action, but he just remembered Vala's smile after he surfaced that first time from the water, the joy on her face at his first discovery. He had known it then, he was already half in love with her.

One month later after they uncovered the hull of _The San Pedro_ Vala said yes.

\--

 _Eight Years Later_

 

On a small boat floating idly of the coast of one of the Florida Keys, the compressor that stood on its aft shook and caught fire. It was an old compressor that should have never been stolen from the junkyard it was found in, but acquiring it had been a solution to a dire situation.

Had there been anyone on board the boat this small fire wouldn’t have been a problem, but the boat was empty, its owner deep underwater, searching. Had there been somebody on board they could have stopped the fire and in result stopped the sparks that flew from the compressor and ignited one of the many towels on the boat’s deck. The towel began a slow burn that began moving across the material to reach the many papers and other flammable objects on the small boat.

Soon, the boat, _Prometheus_ , was engulfed in flames.

Deep under the water it was sinking into, its owner kept searching.

\--

Vala kicked underwater, her body gently held down by the tank strapped to her back as she searched the ocean floor for anything that would lead her to her prize. Next to her, Cameron did the same, shaking the hose as he moved it in front of him. Part of her felt guilty for not letting Daniel know about this, but considering they currently weren’t speaking, she gathered he wouldn’t mind much.

She, still, couldn’t believe they hadn’t spoke in over a month. He wasn’t even staying in their flat anymore, choosing to stay, well, she wasn’t really sure. They hadn’t got that far into that subject last time they spoke, especially with her throwing the lamp at him.

Eight years of relative married bliss, save the monthly, all right, weekly, spats (followed by the fantastic make up sex) they tended to have, and it was only now they had resorted to not speaking.

Bringing her attention back to the matter at hand, she waved her hands in front of Cameron’s mask, getting the man’s attention. Asking with her hands at why the compressor wasn’t working properly, her answer was cut off when a wave of sand blanketed her and Cameron’s sight. They both tried to see through the sand cloud to see what caused it, seeing nothing in the thick sand they turned to each other, shrugged and Vala went back to checking the hose with Cameron.

She could already see in Cameron’s eyes that he was lamenting letting her talk him into getting the compressor through less than honest means, but she decided to ignore it for now. She hadn’t the funds to get a proper one and with Daniel not speaking to her, she couldn’t have very well use her husband’s good looks and sincere smile as the bargaining tool she had come to rely on. Her own looks and flirtatious grins only worked on certain types, Daniel’s worked on everyone else.

Checking her air she focused on the cheap hose, but before she could wordlessly argue with Cameron another sand cloud, larger than the last one by far covered the area surrounding her and Cameron and she motioned to the surface. Cameron nodded and together they kicked up. Before she began moving up though her eyes caught a fragment of white moving in the cloud and snatched out to grab it. As soon as her fingers curled over the piece of white porcelain she continued moving.

They broke the surface at the same time and looked towards the ship.

Except it wasn’t there.

Blinking and pushing her mask away from her face, Vala narrowed her eyes. “Cameron! Where’s the boat?”

“How should I know? I was down there with you.” He rolled his eyes, allowing Vala to wonder why she kept him around as her best friend still.

“It couldn’t have stolen.” She looked around at the wide expanse of ocean and wrinkled her nose, Cameron splashing behind her. “Where’s my boat!?”

“Oh, fuck,” Cameron breathed.

Vala did not like the sound of it. “What?”

“Just think about it for a second.” She really didn’t like the sound of his voice, and cringing she pulled her mask over her eyes and pressed her face to the water. _Please no._

There it was, decorating the seabed like all the ships she had dedicated her life to finding.

Her and Daniel’s boat.

“No, no, no!” Vala exclaimed, snapping the mask over her face and diving back down. She kicked to the bottom, her heart beating erratically in her chest, the only thought in the head: Daniel is going to kill me.

Making her way into the inside of the boat, she looked at her maps, their notes slowly getting ruined, and then remembering, she moved to the left where tucked in between a map of the Keys and a picture of a Spanish galleon was a picture of her and Daniel. It was the picture of the day they bought the boat. Vala blinked behind her mask.

 _He’s going to kill me_ , was quickly followed by: _we were so happy that day._

Snatching the picture she tucked it into one of her suit’s pockets and swam back up to where Cameron was still bouyant. Breaking the surface again she was about to mention her thoughts of Daniel inflicted death to her friend when he became aware of the nine millimetre pointed at them.

 _Fuck._

Looking up she came face to face with two of Ba’al’s more idiotic henchmen. “Gentlemen.”

“I told them that the boat sank.” Cameron helpfully put in, earning him a glare.

“Thank you, Cameron.”

From the small speed boat above them Henchman One waved the gun at Vala. “Come with us.”

“Just me?” She grinned as angelically as she could.

“We only need one of you, and this one,” he waved his gun to Cameron, “does not owe us money.”

“So I’m free to go? Great!” Cameron smiled cheekily at Vala and saluted. “See you later, princess.”

Vala splashed water at his face. “I hope a shark eats you.”

Cameron laughed, splashing back, but already moving to the shore. “Love you too.”

Watching her friend swim back to shore, Vala had to admit she felt a big relief. This way they weren’t both in Ba’al’s cross-hairs and she knew that if she didn’t check in with Cameron in twelve hours he’d know something was wrong and warn all the appropriate people.

Turning back to the men on the boat, she flashed a grin. “So boys, a hand?”

\--

The problem with Daniel’s life at the moment was that despite being almost broke, just this side of disillusioned with the way his life had turned out, and working a job he could do in his sleep, he was still in love with his wife. His wife, who despite being the most amazing woman he had ever met, was partly responsible for them being broke. Ever since they parted ways with Jack their income had been spotty at best, their brief stint in Spain notwithstanding, and while they both worked, it was hardly enough to keep up with the loans they both had piling up.

Vala still held on to the dream of finding her big payday in the Caribbean waters and Daniel still hoped for the discovery that would make his career.

As he made his way up the galley into the yacht’s kitchen he ran a hand through his hair as he came upon the yacht’s chef, sous-chef and captain. Rodney McKay and Carson Beckett were as usual arguing about something, this time as far as Daniel could tell it was who could make the better sandwich—specifically the ratio of turkey to mustard. Daniel was sure that for them bickering was just a form of foreplay by now. The captain of the yacht, John Sheppard, just looked on with amusement as he scarfed down his turkey sandwich, and also the clear instigator of the couple’s culinary battle today if the smirk on his face is anything to go by. John, Daniel had learned during his short time on the ship, might be Rodney’s best friend, but he and Carson teamed up against the man anyway and normally just for fun.

“Rodney,” he could hear Carson start in his I’m Humouring You voice, “certain sandwiches can handle certain condiments that others cannot. It is also a matter of personal taste.”

“Personal taste is an idiotic idea!”

Shaking his head at the constantly bickering duo, he lifted his hand in greeting. “Morning.”

Rodney snapped his head towards Daniel, cutting knife waving wildly in hand. “Finally, somebody with sense! Daniel tell this man who deems to call himself a chef, that you don’t put the lettuce right next to the bread, it causes the bread to lose its integrity and could collapse your entire sandwich.”

Across from Rodney, Carson just gave Daniel and amused smile, telling Daniel that he was just enjoying winding Rodney up.

Daniel needed some amusement today. “Well, I think it would depend on what type of bread you’re using.”

“Oh, my God. I am living on a ship full of _barbarians_. Take this to Mr. Landry.” Thrusting the dinner plate at Daniel, Rodney then proceeded to kick them out of the galley with curses upon their souls and taste buds. “And remember to thank him for accommodating you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’m really grateful for that,” he sighed.

Behind Carson, Rodney snorted. “You might want to work on that sincerity.”

Daniel glared and was prepared to just continue on his way when John, stopped him, clasping a friendly hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Hey, so tomorrow the day?”

Daniel hoped he hid his wince and nodded. He suddenly wished he hadn’t confessed the other night during the crew’s weekly poker game that today he and Vala were meeting lawyers. The idea of divorce sat with a bad taste in his mouth, but Daniel felt he had finally reached the breaking point. He and Vala were barely speaking without fighting, he hadn’t lived in their apartment over Tealc’s in over a month. Instead finding job and lodgings on the _Gateship_ , a yacht belonging to a very wealthy and surprisingly generous man, Henry Landry, a retired Air Force pilot and very successful defence contractor. Then finally when he received and an email from Sarah of all people telling him of hers and Stephen’s new dig that he made a call to the same lawyers that he and Vala had called six years ago, this time asking about divorce.

Eight years ago he would have never thought he and Vala would get to this point. Ever since the first night together they had been a team, a unit, but too many promises had been broken and too many things lost along the way. Their friendship with Jack, most of their money, dreams, the baby. They weren’t the same two kids that had fallen in love with each other and the ocean; they were brittle, not talking, not trusting, but worst of all, in Daniel’s opinion: still in love.

But not even that seemed to save them this time.

And inevitably, in Daniel’s opinion, divorce came up.

He still hated the look he put on Vala’s face when he mentioned it just over a month ago resulting in her slapping him, called him an idiot and flatly refusing. He can admit it might have been the coward’s way out, but in the long run he knew it had to be the better choice for them. It had to be, because he couldn’t stand the fighting anymore.

“Yes, tomorrow’s the day.” He nodded to John, shifting away from the pity he can see in the man.

John clapped his back, shaking his head. “From someone who’s gone through this several times, trust me, it’s never fun.”

“I didn’t expect it would be,” Daniel agreed, turning into the galley steps. As he reached the top he could hear Landry on the phone speaking to what Daniel assumed was an ex-wife as the words _daughter_ and _yes, of course_ were said in a tone of voice that reminded of his latest conversations with Vala.

Daniel had to agree with what John had said: divorce did not look like fun.

\--

Over the course of her life Vala had been manhandled quite a bit and she had never once taken a liking to it. So at the moment as Jarran and Curtis pushed her into Ba’al’s club, Vala could say with a certain degree of certainty that she was _not_ enjoying herself. At all. Ba’al really needed to get better henchman, she thought as they unceremoniously shoved her in front of the man.

Ba’al, as usual, looked impeccable in his white linen shirt and tan trousers, and were she not an almost happily married woman, she would even garner to use her feminine wiles on the man to buy herself some time. As it was, Vala _was_ almost happily married to a man, who as infuriating as he was, she did love quite a lot, so out went that plan. Good thing she always made sure to have a plan B, sometimes a plan C, and very rarely plans D through F. (If she ever got past F she knew she was screwed no matter what.)

Glaring at the two goons who had just shoved, Vala turned a bright grin towards Ba’al. “You could have just called if you wanted to meet.”

Ba’al leaned back in his plush chair, rolling a cigar in between his thumb and forefinger, “Vala, you insult me. Had I called a meeting you would have never shown up, we both know that, anyway as it were,” he curled his lip, eyes travelling over her body, “I prefer my method of retrieval. It tends to be much more effective. Now, about my 62,581 dollars, where is it?”

Vala smiled, “To be quiet honest, it’s all over. Mainly the caribbean.”

“And why is that?”

“Debts need to paid, Ba’al, just like the one I owe you, you’ll get paid. I can’t very well leave myself with a line of bad credit or even worse a bad reputation with my contacts. How would that look?” Vala spoke, sitting herself down on the chair opposite Ba’al, paying no mind to the looks she was getting from his guards. “Can we speak about the plate now?”

“Why would I want to speak about this broken piece of porcelain?” Ba’al held the plate high in the air as if examining, his eyes narrowing as they looked at Vala.

“It’s not just any piece of porcelain. It has the Dessala family crest on it. And if you let me go back to where the boat is and retrieve my notebooks, then I can prove it to you.” Vala crossed her legs, acting more like she was in a business office wearing a sharp suit rather than the oversized shirt man’s Hawaiian shirt she had gotten off Ba’al’s goons over her bathing suit. She thought of Daniel’s notebooks, well, the ones he had left on the boat and sincerely wished that Ba’al would let her go and get them, as unlikely as it seemed.

As she guessed, Ba’al wasn’t keen on the idea, his sharp no, dashing about twenty percent of her hopes. Good thing she still had eighty percent left over. “Just look at the filigrees on the rim, Ba’al. Spanish carvings at its best.”

Ba’al stared hard at her over his lit cigar and set the plate down on the table. “I’m tired of this. Take her away!” He ordered two of his guards and Vala tensed as she felt their hands wrap, tightly, around her upper arms and lift her out her seat. Pulling one shoulder free, she glared at Ba’al.

“Fine, be rude. Can I have my plate back?” Please let me have it back, she thought, knowing what it meant if he answered no.

Ba’al met her glare and smirked, the bastard, “Oh, I think I’ll be keeping it since I don’t think you’ll need it where you’re going.”

 _Crap_ , sometimes Vala forgot just how clever Ba’al was.

“Well, it looks like you aren’t just a thug after all.” She said lightly, turning her body and throwing a left hook to the closest guard. It was a long shot she’d get out, but she had to try. As the man stumbled, Vala rushed forward when she felt someone grab her by the neck of the borrowed shirt, and pulled her back, hard. Vala met the ground with a hard crack and groaned as she watched as Ba’al filled her line of sight.

“Bad move, my dear. Very bad move.” Waving his hand, Ba’al ordered his guards forward again and as they once again lifted her up Vala decided that maybe it was time for plan F.

Fuck.

\--

Watching as the shore got farther and farther away Vala hoped for a miracle, or even the Coast Guard, because she was going to need one or the other to help her out of this mess. Maybe she should have told Cam two hours, because from the looks of it she could be dead in twelve hours, well, now ten. Twirling her ankles, in the chains that bound them, Vala decided she was no longer a fan of iron.

Looking over at the two men, Vala tried for her most charming smile. “Boys, why don’t we talk about this. Without me Ba’al is never going to be able to find the Aurelia, as much as he thinks otherwise. The ocean’s a pretty big place after all and the wreck could be scattered over _miles._ You two could have part of my cut if you help me.” Eyeing the boat she looked for anything that could help her out.

“I don’t think so. Any last words?” Jarran asked as he pulled his gun on Vala. _Well, thank you, Jarran._

“Yes,” Vala held her head high, “tell Daniel I love him.”

The other one, Curtis, eyed her, “Who’s Daniel?”

“My husband,” Vala started, dropping her shoulders, “at least he is for now. By ten o’clock tomorrow we’re getting divorced and for the life of me I can’t figure out what went wrong,” she paused and gave what she hoped was a truly pathetic look to Jarran, “where _I_ went wrong.” It worked, she noticed as the man lowered his gun just a fraction of an inch before tucking into his pocket right in front of her.

“Well I’m sorry to tell you, you aren’t going to be finding out.” Jarran rolled his eyes, not buying her story completely, and frankly insulting Vala a little, moving towards her. Still, it was better than nothing and as soon as he was close enough, Vala headbutted him. As she felt him stumbled she ignored the pain in her head and focuses on _getting the gun._ As she hopped closer to him, she reached out to curled her fingers around it when she felt someone pull her back— Curtis. Clutching the gun in her hands, she shoved her elbow back and made contact with his groin.

She went to lift the gun in her hands and tried to point it at either one of the morons trying to kill her, when she felt her back make contact with the floor of the boat. She watched as Jarran scrambled up, his hands wrapped tightly around the chain connected to feet, pulling her towards the edge. Feeling the panic as it licked its way up her throat, Vala pulled the trigger, not caring about her aim, just hoping to hit something. At Jarran’s scream as the bullet took a chuck of his ear, she felt her feet drop, Vala moved to shoot the chains off, when Curtis’s hand grabbed at her hair and pulled her up.

“Start the boat!” He yelled at Jarran as he struggled with her, the drink cooler got kicked over as she did a ridiculous hop trying to stay on the boat, the man in front of her trying his best to do the opposite.

With a tight scream Vala of frustration fought against Curtis’s tight grip as he tried to push her overboard. Jarran coming up at her side and she swept the left hand, clutching the gun, trying to get the upper hand when she felt it. Her legs being pulled by a heavy weight as Curtis tossed the anchor attached to the chains binding her over the side. Scrambling for purchase, she grabbed hold of the boat’s ladder, holding on for dear life as Curtis tried to step on her hand, forcing her off. Tightening her fingers on the gun, she shot again, this time the bullet going through the man’s flimsy flipflop like paper cutting through his skin. At his yell of pain Vala let herself feel proud until she felt the boat’s engine start up.

The minute the boat began moving she felt her body pulled into two different directions: down towards the possibly inevitable death and forward as she tried not to lose her grip on the ladder. Grunting as the action and stress on her body became unbearable, Vala stuck the gun in her mouth, trying to strengthen her grip.

It didn’t last long as the ladder became more and more slick with water and her hands slipped off.

Feeling the anchor pulled her body under, Vala grabbed the gun and took one last deep breath as the ocean swallowed her up. Underwater, her eyes stung and the Hawaiian shirt she wore floated around her body, a useless cape. Knowing she couldn’t fight them, she let the weight of the chains drag her down to the ocean floor.

The second she felt the anchor hit the sand, her bound feet only a second behind, Vala closed her eyes and sent a quick prayer up as she opened her eyes and aimed at the lock holding the chains together, finding it ironic that it was the first time in a long while she was around a lock with some apparatus to pick it.

 _For the Odisea, darling_ , Vala thought as she pulled the trigger hoping this would work. The bullet hit the lock and Vala felt the chains around her go slack. With an inward shout of relief, she dropped the gun and started swimming for the surface. Her arms and legs felt a bit like jelly, but she keep pushing herself until that one stroke where she was no longer met by water.

As she broke the surface, Vala gulped in a giant breath, looking around her surroundings. With a deep dread, her eyes took in the expanse of ocean and no obvious land nearby. There was nothing but blue around her and the cooler that had fallen off the boat. Swimming to it, she clung to the floating cooler and in that second all Vala could think about was how Daniel was going to kill her. If she didn’t die at sea first.


	2. Chapter 2

Out of all the things he would change back out of the last eight years if he could, Daniel would never regret those first years with Vala, and if he was truly honest he wouldn’t take back the later years either, but as it was Daniel wasn’t that much of a romantic. In those first years Vala had opened his eyes to a world so different from what he had been used to and one of the many things he would always be grateful for was the people Vala brought into his life.

Tealc, for example, who at the moment Daniel was especially grateful for, as the man still let him drink in his bar. The bar Vala still lived over. When he walked in a half hour ago and sat on one of the stools, reminiscent of many other moments before, Tealc hadn’t mentioned anything about why Daniel was in the bar today, even though Daniel was sure he knew, he just poured Daniel a tonic water and went about serving the few regulars that littered the bar at mid-morning. 

“Hey, Tealc, can I have another?” Daniel asked, watching as the ice melted in his drink. 

“Of course, my friend.” Tealc poured the drink and set it in front of Daniel, saying nothing very loudly. 

Daniel smiled, picking out the plastic stick from the glass, looking at Tealc over his glasses. “You can say it, you know.”

“It is not my business what occurs between yourself and Vala's in your private lives,” Tealcc extended, but Daniel could feel the disappointment that just barely came through in the man’s voice. Like most of their friends, the ones still talking to them, Daniel knew Tealc felt like the divorce was probably a mistake. _Unlike_ most of their mutual friends though, Tealc actually kept his opinions to himself, but in a way it was even worse, because it only took Tealc one look, one eyebrow, to let them know he thought they were being morons. 

Lately, Daniel had been getting that eyebrow a lot. He wondered if Vala had too. 

“But you think it’s a mistake.” 

“I believe that only you can decide that.” Tealc said as he moved down the bar to serve Radek and Walter, who Daniel could hear taking about the museum.

Daniel chuckled sadly, and stood, dropping a ten dollar bill on the bar counter. “Yeah, but what if you can’t decide?” Not waiting for an answer Daniel headed over to the lawyer’s office, a distinct lag in his step. 

\--

About twenty miles off the Key West, Vala was drifting along with the tide. Still clutching the cooler, her eyes were closed as dehydration and the heat were winning their battle against her body. In the half lucid state she was in, she was grateful for the shirt that still covered her body because at the moment it was the only thing stopping from the harsh Caribbean sun from burning her skin to a crisp. She also thought she heard music. 

 _Wait, music?_

Blinking against the glare of the sun on the water, Vala looked around, trying to find if she could see the source of the music. To her distress she found nothing but blue all around her. She was _really_ going to have reconsider her favourite colour; red was quickly climbing up the list. Closing her eyes again, cursing at the laziness of the Coast Guard, she heard the music again. This time as she peered around she realises that the sound was coming from _behind_ her. Twisting her body in the water, she gave a dry chuckle as she watched the speed boat, probably full of teenagers, circle her. 

“Hello, there!” She yelled at best she could, her throat protesting the action, but Vala paid it no mind as she yelled once more. “Over here!” 

The speed boat either saw her and her waving hands, or her voice really was as loud as Daniel teased, because they headed towards her. As the boat drew closer, she plastered a wide smile at its occupants, feeling all kinds of lucky as the faces of what were clearly frat boys from the mainland came into focus. 

One of the boys stared unabashedly at her and punched his friend on the air. “Dude! We scored a mermaid!” 

Vala laughed and tilted her head to the side, “Mind giving this mermaid a lift, fellas?” 

“Dude! Awesome!” The boy exclaimed again as he and his friend extended their arms out to help her out of the water. 

 _Guess chivalry isn’t quite so dead after all._

\--

“If Mrs. Jackson”,— “Jackson-Mal Doran, she kept her name,”— “is not here by quarter past, I will award everything to Mr. Jackson, Ms. Weir.” The judge, George Hammond, announced as Daniel checked his watch again. Vala, as always, was late. He used to think this was charming, didn’t he? Well, he sighed remembering, he had normally been there _making_ her late, but even without him, Vala always lived by her own time.

God, he even hated this, he hated lawyers, actually, in all honesty, what he hated more was lawyer’s _offices_ and currently judge’s chambers, especially when he was waiting for his wife. He sighed, _ex-wife soon enough_ , he amended and then looked around, meeting Elizabeth’s eyes and giving her a thin smile. Elizabeth smiled back softly, as she went to defend Vala’s lateness. 

“I'm sure she’s just stuck in traffic,” Elizabeth said, but Daniel knew she didn’t believe her excuse either. Elizabeth was a long time friend and she knew Vala as well as he did. And she also knew Vala didn’t have a car. 

“Come on, Elizabeth, you know she’s not. She doesn't even have car, she’d need money to have a car, she’d need credit to buy a car, and she has neither.” Daniel grumbled, slouching in his seat. 

“Daniel,” Teyla Emmagen, his lawyer, friend, and Elizabeth’s partner in the small firm they had on the island, rested her hand on his forearm, silently telling him to relax. It was pure luck that he had Teyla as his lawyer and Vala had Elizabeth’s as hers—Teyla had just happened to be the one to be in the office when he called and after, when Vala had called, Elizabeth had been. In the end it didn’t matter who had who representing them, Teyla and Elizabeth were the best lawyers they knew and even though their practice had nothing to do with family law, they were friends doing them a favour. Even if they, too, thought he and Vala were being idiots. 

Daniel barely seemed to notice as his rant speed on, “No, I can’t even get _any_ type of loan because _everything_ is in our name. Forget even trying to pay and finish my degree, which was what I was doing before I got dragged here on spring break!”

Teyla sighed next to him, “Well, what did you expect when you proposed after a month, Daniel.”

“That’s not the point, I was in love.” Daniel paused, taking stock of the people in the room, all looking at him with pity in their eyes. “God, look at me, I’m getting divorced by myself. I’m going to kill her.” 

“Daniel, she’ll be here.” Elizabeth repeated, reaching over Teyla to pat his hand. “She doesn’t want this, you know.” 

“She’s got an interesting—” 

Daniel was cut off as Vala burst through the door, drenched, wearing what appeared to be a Hawaiian shirt and baggy board shorts, and yet, somehow still making it look like the sexist thing ever. He really needed to stop thinking about Vala like that; they were getting _divorced_.

“Your honor, this is a big mistake!” Vala walked across the room towards Elizabeth, her eyes firmly on Daniel. Her cheeks looked sunburned he noticed with mild concern. “We still love each other and all you need is love!” She exclaimed, her voice sounding huskier than normal and Daniel wondered if she had been ill recently. He also couldn’t help but be amused by her declaration, as wrong as it was, she always did have thing for Lennon.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Jackson,”— “Jackson Mal-Doran”, she and Daniel corrected, “but since you were late to the proceedings,” Hammond continue only to be interrupted by Vala. 

“ _No_. Daniel, you can’t be serious about this. This is ridiculous, and for one of the smartest men I know, the stupidest move I’ve ever seen you make— and I remember the tequila.” She snapped at him, hands on her hips, eyes blazing. 

“Vala.” Daniel glared back, standing to face her and make his point, “I’ll hold off if you think about Chicago, like you promised.” The minute he mentioned it he knew he had her. She’d never leave the Caribbean, it had been her home for too long and as much as he hated to admit it, it was where she belonged, he just didn’t think he belonged here anymore. There had been a time not so long ago when that hadn’t been the case. He just couldn’t put up with the fighting anymore and this just seemed to be the best solution for them. He hoped. 

“Daniel,” her voice dropped from that passionate tone of before and became a hurt, low sound that he hated to have cause. “I-I—”

“I thought as much.” 

At that Teyla stood next to him and spoke calmly at Vala, “Vala, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but as of sixty-seconds, you and Daniel have been divorced.” 

“And under Florida law since you weren’t present at the proceedings everything has transfered to Mr. Jackson’s name.” The judge put in but Daniel could tell Vala was paying him no mind to them as she stared at him. 

Vala then blinked and turned to Elizabeth, “Liz?” 

Elizabeth also stood, her hand resting gently on Vala’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Vala. It’s done.” 

Daniel could see the stubborn gleam grow in Vala’s eye and turned to leave as he heard her say his name. 

\--

Vala looked at the three people left in the judge’s chamber and frowned. She and Daniel were divorced— it felt wrong even to think it, so she chose not to. Instead, she thought on the plate and what it meant if she was right. _Wait_ , she hadn’t even told—

“Vala.” She heard Elizabeth say to her, snapping her out her thoughts.

She looked at Teyla and Elizabeth and shrugged, “Well, you tried. See you for dinner later in the week!” Rushing out the room, going after Daniel, Vala left all three occupants of the room staring at each other in confusion. Teyla and Elizabeth just looked at each other and shook their heads. 

“Daniel! Wait!” Vala called out running barefoot after him. She followed him down the steps of the court house, thinking how funny it was that only eight years ago they had been getting married in the same building. Catching up to him in the court yard she was grateful that he stopped, her tire feet feeling the last few hours all too well. 

He turned as she reached him, “Vala?” 

“I found it!” She exclaimed, grinning, because even divorced, Daniel was still the one person she wanted to share this with. It was his too, after all.

“Don’t,” he sighed, knowing the only thing she could mean. “Don’t do this.” 

Vala rolled her eyes, “Please, I’m not begging here _or_ lying, darling. I really found something this time. I need a pen.” She patted down her outfit, even knowing that she had nothing in her borrowed clothes. Luckily for her, Daniel always did. “Here,” he pulled out a small moleskin notebook and handed her the silver pen she had bought him for his birthday years ago when they still had been able to spend money with more ease. 

Taking the pen and notebook, she flipped it open and began drawing the Dessala family crest she had seen on the plate, “it was the Dessala family crest on the back on a plate, with this carved filigree on its rim,” she continued, also drawing the filigree for Daniel to see. “It was right there off Topsail Key, like you said it would be. You were right, darling. You were right before anyone else was.” She beamed at him, handing the notebook over. 

Daniel stared at the drawing and she could see his eyes glowing with the hope that she was right, and Vala smiled inwardly, this time she was, she could feel it. 

“Where did you find it?” He asked, his eyes glittering. 

“A hundred yards off the reef, just where you said it would be.” 

When he looked back up at her, his eyes so bright and blue, she almost kissed him, but then he spoke. “Where’s the plate?”

The second the words left his lips Vala could feel herself deflating. She couldn’t very well tell him about Baal right now and she really didn’t want to lie, biting her lips, she went for the next best option. “Oh, well, its back…” 

“Wow,” Daniel breathed and Vala could feel his disappointment. “I almost believed you. I can’t believe…”

“I am not lying!” She growled, smacking him in the arm. “Cameron was there with me, ask him!” 

His eyes narrowed, “I can draw this too, you know.”

“Don’t you dare, Daniel Jackson. Don’t you dare dismiss this because you think I’m doing this to get you back. Don’t you think I would done some earlier, say in the last month where you’ve been practically a ghost. I gave you your divorce. This isn’t about that.” She poked him in the arm again, “We solved this. _We solved this_.”

She could see the fight Daniel was having with himself about whether or not to believe her. _Come on, darling, fight for this. For u_ —she cut that last thought off, because she wasn’t going to make it about that, them. It was about the _Odisea_. It was about their dream, and she hoped he still believe in that, at least. She wasn’t so lucky because she knew the second his _fucking sense_ won, tucking the notebook into his pocket and gave her _that_ sigh.

“No, Vala, I can’t. I’m done. I’m going back to Chicago, get my PHD, read, maybe write a book, teach and then I’m going—” 

“To be _bored_ for the rest of your life! Honestly, do you really think you’ll be happy going back to that life, to a city, away from the sand, from the ocean and locking yourself up in an _office_? You’ll hate it, you know it. You love the sand, Daniel, you love getting your hands dirty.” She broke in angry, eyes flashing. “Plus, where are going to get the money?” Vala quirked her lips, hand on her hips, daring him to argue with her. 

“The boat. Which is now _my_  boat now, baby.” He looked so proud at his statement that Vala almost wished she didn’t have to ruin his fantasy. Hell, he even said _baby_ and he hardly ever said that outside the bedroom.

Biting her lips, she stepped closer, lowering her voice. “This is hard to say, so,” she leaned forward, brushing her lips by his ear and whispered. She could feel Daniel tensing at every word she breathed into his ear, describing the demise of their boat. When she finished, Vala stepped back to look at Daniel. Cringing, she took in his practically statue-still form, not an inch of him was moving expect from the muscles she could see jumping in his jaw.

“Darling?” She ventured, carefully. 

He did seem to respond, if only slightly. He stopped staring into nothingness and his eyes fixated on her. It looked like he was about to say something when he just raised and clenched his hands in the air, before dropping them back down and walking away. Vala bit her lip, watching him walk away when he turned back. She steeled herself for the oncoming rant when he only repeated the action, his lips opening and closing, and walking away again. This time Vala only raised her eyebrow in mild amusement because Daniel was turning back once more. This time he managed to utter something as he waved his hands at her in what she could only call loveable frustration. 

“ARGH.” 

Now as he walked away, Vala knew he wasn’t turning back. Moving to tie her hair back, Vala frowned, she did feel bad about what had happened, after all, the boat had been a home for them. 

\--

Two hours later after Daniel stalked back onto the yacht, ignoring Carson’s questions of concern, and showered he sat in front of his laptop looking over all the files he had on the Dessala's. He had Orlin's portrait open and he kept starting at it as he re-read his notes on the _Odisea_  for the millionth time. He was close the file, with the thought it was finally time to close this phase of his life, possibly forever, when he saw it. 

Pushing his glasses further up his nose, Daniel squinted at the edge of the portrait, where the fruit sat on a plate. A plate with the same exactly filigree that Vala had drawn just hours ago. Picking up his notebook, he put it up to the screen to compare the two images. 

The filigree was a match. 

Daniel’s eyes widened at the revelation, “Holy shit.” 

\--

Back on the island, Vala walked into _The Jaffa_ , longing for a shower and a change of clothes, but first, she needed a drink. A big one. 

“Muscles,” she said, dropping into one of bar stools, “drink, please.” Reaching into her pocket she fished out the one thing she had managed to save from the boat, the picture of her and Daniel, and looked at it, feeling a deep sadness go through her.

Tealc only gave a look of mild worry before he set down a Corona and a shot glass full of tequila. 

“You’re a god among men,” Vala downed the tequila and chased it down with the beer. Dropping her head on the counter, she sighed dejectedly. 

“I have been told.” He smiled, taking the shot glass back, moving down the bar. 

That’s when she saw him. Cameron, the bastard. He was looking at her, the amusement practically reeking from every pore of his body. “I see that Baal didn’t kill you?” He stood and moved from where he was seated and slid into the stool next to her. 

“Obviously,” she glared, taking a swing of beer. 

“Don’t worry about it, princess, it will get better.” He patted her back gently, “Why don’t you go on up and clean yourself up. You smell like old seaweed.” 

Chuckling, she lifted her head and glared, “Sometimes I really do hate you, Cameron.” Vala lifted her arm and inhaled, wrinkling her nose, the shower seemed like a good idea,  _really good_. 


	3. Chapter 3

“We need to get out of Key West.” Daniel ranted as Carson and Rodney worked in the galley of the yacht. 

Not even pausing to look at him, Rodney deadpanned. “You need help.”

“No, I’m serious, we need to leave now.” 

“No, you _really_ need help. Carson, pass me the dill.” 

Carson rolled his eyes at his partner, but passed the herb, turning to Daniel. “Now, settle down, lad. Why do we need to leave?”

“Vala! Have you two not being paying any attention to me. Vala. The minute she sees this ship she’ll be on it faster than I can translate ancient Egyptian, and I can translate pretty damn fast.” Daniel spoke as he paced the small area allowed to him. 

At that Rodney turned to him, wooden spoon splattering it’s contents on counter below him, “You told her you worked here? God, you are an idiot.”

Daniel looked at Rodney like he was crazy, “What? Of course not! But I know my wife—”

“Ex-wife,” Rodney put in earning a glare from Carson. 

“I honestly don’t get it, Daniel. Why would she come here?” Carson asked, genuinely curious. 

Daniel groaned, throwing up his hands. “Money, Carson, she needs money. Another boat, new equipment—everything, and I seriously doubt she’ll be able to squeeze any more out Baal.” 

“Baal!” Rodney turned around, his eyes wide. “The owner of Storm God Development; the biggest development agency on the island? He’s who your ex had as an investor?” He shook his head and turned back to his bisque, “No wonder you divorced her. I heard he once skinned a guy for trying to steal one of his clubs.” 

Carson turned to Rodney, swallowing. “I’m sure you heard wrong, Rodney.” He turned to Daniel, “I’m sure he heard wrong. But I honestly don’t see what you’re worried about, Daniel. She hasn’t even met Landry.” 

Daniel sighed, dropping his hands to the counter. “Not yet, but she will. The minute she smells the money, she’ll be here, charming Landry into paying for the excursion. She has a way of finding out these things. It’s spooky."

Carson smiled, “She can smell money? What a gal.”

Daniel just continued without even a pause. “Carson, it’s not funny, we’re about to be in  _invaded_. We have to go. Vala’s a genius when it comes to three things. Treasure salvaging, getting money for treasure salving and well…” Daniel began ticking off the points with his fingers until he trailed off, blushing. 

Unfortunately, neither Carson and Rodney missed this. “ _What_?” They asked, the gleam in their eyes reminding Daniel of starving wolves or gossiping mothers. 

He cleared his throat, rubbing the area between his brows, facing the door. “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

As he was leaving, he passed John who gave him a look heading into the galley. “So what’d I miss?”  

\--

The handy thing about living over the bar, to Vala, was that it was only a stairwell away. That meant more alcohol was only a stairwell away and right now, Vala needed some more liquid healing. The shower did its part to cleanse her from the film of dried salt and sweat that built up on her skin, but she still felt run down, not the usual feeling she had after couple days of adventure.

Pulling the picture she saved from the boat from the borrowed shirt she had kept it in, she frowned seeing how the salt water and air had already begun to oxidise the image. The picture appeared ancient and faded, looking the part of a true relic. She smoothed it out, tucking into the corner of her mirror, and bit her lip. The divorce was getting to her and she didn’t like it. Completing her usual uniform of bikini, shorts, and top, Vala slipped her long hair in a loose pony tail and proceeded downstairs to continue with her plan for the day: alcohol. 

When she bounded in to the bar again, she found Cameron was still nursing his beer. “Planning to keep me and Muscles company today, Cameron?” She curled the top half of her body over the bar, reaching over the till and scrambling around the bottom side of it for the twenties that Teal’c always hid for her there. 

“Thought you might need the company.” He grinned, chuckling as she pulled the bills out and tucked them into her back pocket. “And I was wondering, just how you were thinking to replace the boat.”

She pouted as she stole his drink and downed it, “I just got divorced, Cameron. I can’t think on boats and treasure. I’m a _divorcee_. If films are anything to go by I need some alcohol, ice cream and a good cry.” 

This time Cameron just out right laughed, “And when have you done anything like it’s expected, princess.” 

She shrugged, “I figured I should try something new.” She paused, squinting at Cameron, “Why? What do you know?” 

“Well, I don’t know, since you’re so damn pouty and planning to drink your sorrows away, I don’t want ruin your plans for the day.” Cameron nudged her, earning him another glare. 

“Cameron.” 

“But, I was just wondering if you’ve seen that big yacht out by the docks.” 

“Why would I care about a yacht?” Vala leaned forward, unsure where Cameron was going with this. 

“Because, the owner, Henry Landry, is worth about 700 million dollars.” 

There were few times in her life, Vala was aware of just how lucky she was to have the friends she had, and this moment was one of them. 

“You don’t say?” She could already feel the day looking up.

\--

Never a fan of public speaking, despite Sarah’s and Vala’s declarations to the opposite, Daniel ran through his lines in hopes to persuade Landry to depart the island. The last thing he needed was Vala on this ship, because she _was_ coming no matter what Carson and Rodney thought, hell, he could practically feel her inching her way closer. It wasn’t his fault he knew his wife— _ex_ -wife, reminded himself. Ex-wife. It wasn’t his fault he knew her as well as he did.

 _Right, stop thinking about Vala_ , he reminded himself. This whole plan is about trying to avoid her. Straightening his shoulders he picked up the tray and headed out to the deck, where Henry Landry was just hanging up on his cell phone, one hand holding a cigar. 

“Mr. Landry,” he greeted as he set the tray down. 

“Daniel, how are you today?” The man smiled, friendly as ever. 

“Fine, sir. I just wanted to express my thanks again for allowing me to take care of that business I had on the mainland this morning.” 

“It was no trouble, Daniel. Did every go all right?” 

Daniel pressed his lips together, bowing his head. “As well as divorce can get.” 

“Isn’t that truth, son.” Landry granted, with a chuckle. 

Clearing his throat, Daniel mentally crossed his fingers. “So shall I tell the captain that its time to weigh anchor?” He moved around, grabbing the jar of water and filling Mr. Landry’s glass waiting for the yes that would let him breath again. 

“No,” Landry said serenely, taking a nice long drink not even noticing how Daniel almost dropped his tray. 

“N-no?” Daniel stammered, “I mean, is something wrong?” 

Landry shook his head, somewhat dejectedly Daniel noticed, “No, no, nothing like that, Daniel. It’s my daughter, she’ll be joining us. She’s just starting work at a hospital on the island and asked if she could stay here until she’s settled.” 

“Oh. That’s…that’s wonderful that she’ll be joining us. Wonderful, I’ll just go and start preparing a stateroom for her.” Daniel nodded, moving down the yacht’s exterior steps, cursing his luck. As his hands closed over the railing he heard Landry calling him back. 

“Daniel?”

“Yes, Mr. Landry,” 

“What do you do?” Landry asked, effectively surprising Daniel, as out of all the questions he had expected Henry Landry to ask him that one would not have even made the top twenty. 

Daniel blinked, “Well, sir, I’m a steward. I steward.” 

Like the question he had just been posed, Landry’s chuckle also surprised Daniel, causing him to furrow his brow in a manner that Vala had always said made him look constipated. Landry didn’t seem to notice, thankfully, “No, son, I mean what do you really do?” 

“What makes you think I do something other than steward?” Daniel asked, utterly confused about where this conversation was going. 

Landry smiled and Daniel had to admit, the man had the type of smile that got people to trust him, to like him; it was a clear and unassuming smile, full charm and warmth. He knew that type of smile well, Vala had one just like it, only Vala’s was definitely better, Daniel thought. Then he remembered he wasn’t supposed to think that way any more. Crap. 

“My undeniable skill for sizing people up, Daniel. “

Daniel eyes the man as politely as he can, which he can admit, is probably not all that successful. “Have you been sizing me up?” 

Landry settles in chair and meets Daniel’s eyes. “Quite. And what my skill is telling me now Daniel is that, while competent at your job it’s obvious that you could do it while asleep. It’s also telling me that you are smart, have a not so hidden love for the ocean, you perform your duties with superlative efficiency and ease, suggesting that you’re accessing about one-tenth of your available brain power. So,” Landry paused, giving Daniel a slight smile, “what do you do with the remaining ninety percent when you’re not getting divorced?”

Not sure if he was supposed to be feeling insulted or embarrassed, Daniel cleared his throat. “Well, sir. I-I…” Daniel trailed off, gathering his wits and giving himself a shake, “I read a lot, it's just... It’s just been a crazy few years, sir.”

\--

Vala was grinning at Cameron’s enthusiasm, a beer cooling the palm that was curled around it, when they heard it. A helicopter was flying over head, drowning out the sound of her voice and making her head hurt. Cameron on the other hand seemed all too happy about the sound, tilting his head up as if he could see through the roof of the bar. As it passed them, he turned to her with a grin. 

“Hmm, that’s probably his helicopter. His daughter is supposed to be arriving today. Everyone’s been talking about it.” The look on his face was nothing short of evil and Vala could feel the day suddenly looking up. Without a word she stood and turned towards the exit. 

Behind her Cameron called out, “You’ll call when you’re ready?” 

Vala grinned and waved over her shoulder, “I’ll see you later, boys.” 

Had Vala turned for one last look at the bar she would have seen Cameron and Teal’c sharing a conspiratorial smile and clinking beer bottles together, but she didn’t, so Vala continued on her way, a plan already forming. 

\--

As Vala walked down Water Street, eyes on the helicopter, she didn’t even notice as she blindly passed Baal, Jarran and Curtis.

To her luck, they didn’t notice her either. They were too busy looking for the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum for something only Daniel Jackson had found and they would never be able to.

\--

Daniel watched the helicopter land on the heli-pad of the yacht and Carolyn Lam-Landry stepped out, holding nothing but a decent sized travel bag and wearing a slight frown. Not having that much experience with parents (his were dead and Vala’s still lived in Australia, divorced, oh irony) Daniel didn’t know what the right reaction for visiting one’s father or having one’s daughter visit, but he was pretty sure there wasn’t supposed to be frowning involved. 

Obviously no one had told the father and daughter in question because after the brief, and in Daniel’s opinion, very awkward hug, Carolyn Lam-Landry looked at her father and in a non-nonsense voice told him that she was planning to head to the mainland and take a look around the area before she went to visit the hospital she was going to be working at soon. He watched as Landry smiled and nodded, obviously proud of his daughter, if only a bit distant. 

“So, sweetie, when do you start at hospital anyway? You and your mother didn’t mention that on your phone calls.” He smiled, clearly unsure of himself. 

Carolyn moved swiftly through the room, not even allowing anybody take her bag. “I start next month. I wanted to get here a few weeks early to look for a place to stay and get the lay of the land.” She paused and looked back towards her father as if she just remembered something, “Thank you, by the way. For letting me stay here until I do. It won’t take me long.”

Landry smiled, touching his daughter’s shoulder ever so briefly and gently, “There’s no rush, Carolyn. I’m happy to have you here.” 

“Still, I know how much you hate to have your schedule changed.” Carolyn shrugged, heading down towards where the rooms were, the look she gave over her shoulder one of guilt and defiance that only a daughter could give. “I’ll be ready to leave for the mainland in a few minutes.”

Landry didn’t reply to his daughter's words, only gave a smile as he watched her head downstairs. After her head had disappeared over the top of the partition, he turned to Daniel. “Please tell Rodney and Carson we’ll be having rack of lamb tonight. It’s Carolyn’s favourite.”

“Of course, sir.” Daniel nodded and head down to galley. No doubt Rodney and Carson would be full of questions for him to answer. 

\--

Vala sat by the docks, waiting for her opening. One had to be careful about these things, after all, wait for the opportune moment, because if your approach was too strong you risked scaring away the mark— _investor_ , she thought with a grin. So, Vala waited, watching the yacht, waiting for her chance. 

It came about an hour after she had sat down and bought a sandwich from Fledger, who own the food cart just down the street. Her chance came in the shape of the small, white, motor powered, banana boat heading toward the docks. She watched a slim figure of who she figured to be Henry Landry’s daughter stepped of the banana boat, eyes hidden by dark sunglasses, dresses in a light linen pants and a white shirt that screamed sophisticate. Vala smiled, _this would be almost too easy_ , she thought making her way down towards the docks.

Just as Landry’s daughter stepped of the ramp that lead from up from the docks, she and Vala suddenly found them in a tangled collision, as Vala tripped into the other woman. 

They both hit the ground at the same time and Vala let out an oof of pain as her ass made contact with the hard floor. Immediately, Vala turned to the shorter woman, apologising profusely. 

“Oh, Lord, I’m so sorry,” she scrambled up, offering her hand. “I wasn’t looking at where I was going. Are you okay?” She rambled on, taking a page from Daniel’s book of Bumbling Charm. 

From the ground, Landry’s daughter eyed her, but eventually took offered hand. “Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.” 

“Are you sure? I did run into you pretty hard.” Vala frowned, making a show of looking the woman over. 

“Not that bad and you’re not that heavy,” she smiled, rolling her shoulders. 

“You flatter me. Still, I’m so very sorry. I guess my mind just wandered from me.” 

“It’s really fine, no harm done.” 

Vala nodded, actually feeling slightly bad about the whole thing, but business was never pretty. “I still feel horrible. I’m normally not so accident prone, it’s just been a rough day,” she paused, then ploughed on, “Are you sure you’re fine?”

This earned a laugh and Vala held back a smug smile. “Yes, I’m sure. Really, no harm done.” 

“Okay, then.” Vala smiled, sticking out her hand, “Name’s Vala, by the way. Vala Mal Doran.” 

“Carolyn Lam-Landry.” Carolyn took the offered hand and shook it firmly. 

“Nice to meet you, Carolyn. Possible injury aside, of course.” 

Chuckling, Carolyn smiled, “Nice to meet you too, Vala.” 

Vala grinned brightly, feeling everything fall into place, and went in for the next phase, “Are you here visiting our lovely port?” 

“Yes, well, sort of. I’m moving here soon, but I came early to get a feel for the area so I hopefully don’t get lost on my first day of work.” Carolyn clarified, wiping her hand on her trousers, wiping away slight traces of dirt that had transferred to her clothes from the ground. 

“Wonderful!” Vala leaned forward to take Carolyn’s arm. “Please, let me be the first to welcome you and show you around. As an apology for any trouble I caused.” 

Carolyn eyed her warily, warning Vala to back off a little, Ms. Lam-Landry seemed to be suspicious sort. “Of course, if you want the company,” Vala stepped back, hunching her shoulders slightly, trying to put as much affable awkwardness into the action. 

Seemingly to weigh her options, Carolyn chewed on her lip for a few seconds, before curling her lips in a wry smile. “Why not? I could do with knowing someone from the area.” 

“Lovely.” Vala led Carolyn forward, mentally patting herself on her back. “Well, let’s start with Water Ave.…” 


	4. Chapter 4

Jack O’Neill was not a man that particularly _liked_ people. In fact he could probably count the number of people he _did_ like on his hands and still have a couple of fingers left over. Hell, it was why he ran his salving business out of the back of a museum. Because really, how many people hang out in a museum that’s in the middle of the Caribbean? That being said, it was going to be obvious that Jack O’Neill was not going to like Baal Hadad just on principle, but then he met the man and _really_ didn’t like him. 

Baal grinned, snake-like, “Mr. O’Neill, I would like you to find me the Queen’s Dowry.” 

Jack almost snorted, but fought to keep his professional face in check. “Well, Mr. Hadad--”

“Please, call me Baal, there’s no need for formality here.” He smirked, making himself at home as he leaned back in the chair. 

“Sure, why not?” Jack shrugged, barely keeping the eye-roll in check. “Like I was going to say, Mr. Baal, I don’t think you know just exactly what you’re after.” 

Baal just kept his smirk on and gestured to one of the two idiots that had followed him in, “Jarran, the plate.” 

 _Plate_? Jack wondered, his curiosity spiking.  

Taking the pouch that his lacky handed him, Baal opened it and pulled out half a porcelain plate that should showed the obvious wear of having been left underwater too long. Jack took it in his hands, feeling its sharp edges and looked up at Baal, eyebrow raised. 

In his smooth (and over confident) voice, Baal pointed to the plate, proud. “This is piece of the plate I’ve found in the Bahamas, off Topsail Key. Now if you turn it over, you will notice it has the Dessala family crest etched in the back.” 

This time Jack really, really tried to keep the scepticism out his voice, too used to amateur treasure seekers coming to him for confirmation that they found something. Most of the time he let Sam break the news to them, as she was much nicer than he, but today he decided it had been a while and instead of humouring the smarmy man in front of him, he felt he owed him the truth. 

“Well, that’s just dandy Mr. Baal, but who the hell are the Dessalas and why should I care about their family crest.” 

The look on the man’s face was almost worth it, but the man recovered quickly from his angry shock. “I have it on good authority that these Dessalas have more to do with the Queen’s Dowry than obviously even you, Mr. O’Neill, had considered. I’m offering you an opportunity to discover one of the greatest treasures of the known world, and I suggest you take it.” 

Jack started at the man, reminding himself it was bad to hit clients and took one last look at the plate in his hands. This character sounded sure of his source and Topsail Key was one of Daniel’s theories…. _Daniel. Vala_. He lifted his head, slowly, and sized up Baal. Slick, confident, clearly dangerous. _Ha_ , he shook his head, amused, _Vala, you never did change_. She always picked the dodgiest characters to borrow money from. Pushing the inklings of worry back, Daniel and Vala had stopped being his problem a long time ago, Jack nodded to Baal. 

“Sounds like an offer I can’t refuse.” 

Baal stood, grabbed the plate, and nodded to Jack. “Looks like we have deal.” The man was an oily character, smooth and dangerous, there was no question of that, but, Jack smirked, it wasn’t like he hadn’t worked with worse. Hell, he used to work for the government. 

“Looks like.”

\--

As Vala and Carolyn finished their afternoon together, Vala had to admit she did feel guilty about ultimately using Carolyn to get on her father’s boat, after all, she was conning a _doctor_ —a doctor that helped kids, no less, as she learned during their conversation as she showed Carolyn around—but this could be her big break, and after six years she was not letting it slip away when it was so close. Nearing the docks, Vala turned to Carolyn, “So I hope my tour guide services have made up for running you over this morning.”

Carolyn laughed warmly, “No lasting damage was made. And thank you for showing me around.” 

“It was no problem.” Vala spun towards the ocean, tucking her hands into the back pocket of her short, “So, which ship out there do you call home?” 

Carolyn pressed her lips together, not quite smiling or frowning, her entire stance tensing, “None of them.” 

“Are you a mermaid then, because unless there’s an underwater hotel I’ve never heard about…” Vala trailed off, facing Carolyn, with an amused tilt of her head.

“Not quite. I’m staying with my father on the _Gateship_ ,” Carolyn pointed to the yacht, “but it’s not what I’d call home.” 

Vala nodded, “Ah.” 

“Yeah.” Carolyn sighed, frowning for a split second before straightening and stepping forward towards the small lifeboat waiting for her. “Right, well, that’s my ride. Dinner with my father is waiting.” 

“You have my number, Carolyn. Call whenever you want some company.” 

Carolyn smiled, heading towards the boat. Vala watched her go, waving her fingers idly. 

“Have fun at dinner with daddy,” she called out, being obviously ironic, grinning when Carolyn laughed back.

“I sure it will be.” Carolyn moved down the dock. Half way down, Carolyn paused. Vala, slowly turning back towards town, counted to ten.

“Hey, Vala!” Carolyn called out. 

Waiting a second to wipe the smug smile of her face, Vala turned, “Carolyn, did you forget something?” 

“I was just wondering… you feel like some dinner? I promise it will be good.” 

Vala waved her hands down her body, “I’m not exactly dressed for dinner.” 

Carolyn rolled her eyes and waved her over, “Please, if you don’t fit in my clothes, I’ll shoot myself. Come on, you’ll be saving me from having to listen to my father talk about his new investments for the night.” 

“Anything I can do to help.” Smirking, Vala agreed, heading down the docks. “So, what does your father even do?” 

\--

As Carson and Rodney carefully arranged the food on the plates in front of Daniel, he wondered who was the third person join Landry and his daughter for dinner. He had heard that Carolyn had brought someone on board, but he had thought she had never  been to Key West before, so unless she had a friend already living in the area, Carolyn Lam made fast friends. The food looked good though, fantastic, even, and he made sure to tell both Carson and Rodney that. 

Carson blushed, glowing under the compliment. “Thank you, lad. I will admit I’m particularly proud of the cherry glaze.” 

“A recipe you know because of me!” Rodney grumbled, moving to Carson’s side, drizzling the said glaze over the lamb. 

“And I thank you for it every day.” Carson smiled at his partner, rolling his eyes. “Stop being a spoil sport.” 

Rodney scowled, but there was no malice being it. “Whatever. They probably won’t even appreciate the effort I put into making that lamb perfect. It’s more than just skill, it’s a science.”

“I noticed.” Carson settled his hand on Rodney’s shoulder, making the other man’s ear go red. Daniel smiled, knowing that small gesture from Carson had just made Rodney’s night. “So, Daniel,” Carson turned to him, adding the garnishes to the plate, “have you talked to Landry about this ship of yours?”

Shaking his head, Daniel picked up the plates and set them on the tray. “No, not yet. I don’t know if it’s a good idea.” 

“Don’t be a coward, Daniel. He either likes the idea and helps you out or tells you you’re mad and you still make your way to Chicago. Either way you end up somewhere you wanted. Stop being a wimp.” 

“Rodney!” Carson scolded. 

“What, am I wrong?” Eyebrow raised, he gave Daniel a look. 

Narrowing his eyes at Rodney, Daniel turned to Carson, lips set in a mild frown. “No, it’s fine, Carson. He’s right.” 

“Of course I am.” Rodney stated, turning back to the stove, getting started on the soufflé, for dessert. 

“When do you plan to ask?” Carson asked, gently. 

“What better time to waste than now.” Daniel sighed, grabbing the tray. “If you see me come back looking like a ghost, you’ll know how it went.” Walking out of the galley, Daniel straighten his shoulders. _What better time to waste than now_. Vala had always said that.

\--

Vala grinned charmingly as Carolyn introduced her to Hank Landry when he asked who she was as they stepped on the yacht.

“This is Vala Mal Doran, a friend, and I’ve invited her over for dinner.” Carolyn replied in a no-nonsense tone that had Vala laughing inwardly, especially considering Hank Landry’s confused demeanour.

Clearing this throat, he gave Vala a polite nod and flash of teeth. “Of course, the more the merrier. Dinner will be served in an hour.” 

In an obvious effort not to roll her eyes, Carolyn lead Vala down towards the guest rooms. “I know, dad. We’ll be ready soon.” 

\--

Making his way towards the upper deck, where dinner was being served, Daniel went over his speech to Landry, not knowing what waited for him when he got there. 

“Mr. Landry, remember when you asked me what I really did? I look for treasure ships—galleons. I look for Spanish galleons.” He muttered under his breathe, trying to get his bearings. “It’s not exactly an investment, because you probably won’t see a dime. It’s a chance to pull out a piece of living history from the hand. With your bare hands.” Mentally scoffing at himself for using more than a few Vala lines in his speech, Daniel didn’t even perceive the familiar accent drifting past his ears. 

“To the _Odisea_ , and to adventure!” 

It was those words that brought Daniel back from his thoughts and he could not believe his eyes. Vala. Sitting. At dinner. With the Landrys. There was only one way for Daniel to react. 

“I knew it!” Practically dropping the tray of food on the table, he glared at his wife. EX-wife. Ex-wife! He couldn’t even think straight. He knew she’d find a way on board. He should have insisted on leaving to Landry instead of listening to Carson and Rodney.

Vala, unaware of his inner break down, only turned to face him with happy surprise etched across her face. “Darling!” 

Gritting his teeth, he now did let the tray fall to the table with a resounding clang as the silverware rattled together and more than a few cups threaten to fall over. The fury (and shock) he felt at the moment overtaking any sense of protocol he had for his job. Well, almost any sense. “Have a nice dinner, don’t mind me!” He exclaimed, his voice more than a touch hysterical. 

As he turned to leave he caught sight of Vala’s absurdly happy grin and heard Landry exclaim, “I take it you’ve met.” 

Vala’s laugh followed and he hated himself for missing the sound of it. 

\--

Vala was holding back honest to god glee at Daniel’s brooding face—it was just so bloody adorable. In his eyes he was completely in the right for his little tantrum at dinner, but really, he should have known better than to keep this from her. She always did manage to find him. Watching as he moved across the yacht’s living area, Vala had to admire the way the white trousers of his uniform framed his ass. If only they were still having make-up sex, she mourned, briefly, before beginning to explain to Hank and Carolyn what she and Daniel were searching for. What she hoped they’d help them find.

Carolyn though, Vala had to admit, did not look all that happy, but that’s probably because the other woman was beginning to understand that their meeting might not have been so accidental. Oh, well, Vala frowned, she would make it up to her later. Carolyn was lovely, after all. Crossing her legs and leaning back in the soft material of the cream chair that sat across from Landry on his sofa. The maps of Mexico and the Caribban that she and Daniel had asked Landry to use as props laid on the coffee table in front of there in their pristine frames. 

Vala curled her lips, remembering as she spoke, “So Daniel and I first met when I was working for this local bloke, Jack O’Neill. Local character, not a big talker, used to be Navy SEALs before he retired. An old sea dog, as he likes to call himself.”

While she spoke, she watched as Daniel walked around her with a tray of tea sandwiches. Snatching one, she gave him a grin just as Landry gently requested for Daniel to sit down and stop serving them. 

After a pause and giving a look Daniel did just that, very conspicuously taking the seat across from her. “Jack O’Neill is one of the world’s most respected treasure salvers.”

Vala rolled her eyes, “Nobody said he wasn’t, Daniel.” 

“Don’t forget what you were doing when you met Jack, Vala.” He eyed her back, the light glinting of his glasses. 

“Oh, don’t make it sound scandalous, Daniel.” She turned to Landry, wide smile stretched across her face. “I was giving surf lessons, Mr. Landry.” 

Landry had the good taste to chuckle at the innuendo as Daniel continued. “Jack gave you a job, a vocation and taught you everything you—we—know.”

“Not everything,” she winked back at him. 

This time it was Carolyn’s laugh that filled the silence brought about by Daniel’s blush as Landry choked on his brandy. Vala felt proud. 

“Anyway,” Daniel narrowed his eyes at her silently telling her to drop it, “later when she and Jack had a falling out about this canon we found”— “on our day off,” Vala interjected— “of the _Odisea_ , which Vala has told you about, about three miles off Euro Beach, which the court ruled was Jack’s since we used his equipment.” He ignored her, facing Landry, and Vala felt a rush of affection for Daniel. Her presence was getting to him. 

“Let me guess, you got fired again.” Carolyn smirked, moving to take a seat next to her dad, eyeing Vala. 

Landry looked between the two women and cleared his throat trying to diffuse the slight tension that that taken the room. “So, about this treasure?”

Vala leaned forward, making eye contact, her lips curling very cat like. “It starts July 31st, 1715, and a hurricane sinks the entire Spanish treasure fleet of the coast of Florida, including her flag ship _The Daedalus_ , which according to its manifest carried the Queen’s Dowry. Forty chests filled with jewellery and gold crowns, specially crafted in the orient for the new Queen.” 

From across her, Daniel’s smile grew, “When we say jewels we mean some of the most exotic and valuable stones known to man.” 

“But,” Vala interrupted, “we need to get important bits and that starts with what Daniel and myself got up to during our honeymoon.” She winked saucily at her ex-husband.

“Vala!” Daniel exclaimed, clearing remember the table in the Archives Room just as well as she did.

“I think we can all imagine that.” Landry offered uncomfortably, taking up his drink. Next to him Carolyn raised an eyebrow at Vala, blushing gracefully when Vala told her she’d fill her in on that later. 

“Ignore her, Mr. Landry,” Daniel took over, shifting in his chair. “See after the court case we decided to go backpacking in Spain for a couple of weeks.” He paused sending her a small smile, “We ended up staying there for two years in the archives in Seville. Where every known record of official transcript and royal decree relating to the treasure fleet has been kept for centuries.”

Vala pressed her lips together as the memory of the lonely library filled her mind and the reminder of Daniel and her as they took advantage of it—the feel of the weathered wood against her back, the smell of book on their clothes, the way the papers felt curled in her fingers—they were good memories. Shaking herself out of the memory she tuned back into Daniel’s voice he retold the story. 

“At first it was for fun, but then we decided to look up the _Odisea_ , because of the cannon we found. It became a sort of pet project for us, especially when we learned that the captain was an eighteen year old boy named Orlin Dessala.” 

Vala watched Landry and Carolyn, saw that they were getting hooked into the story much like she and Daniel had been, and took over. “We also discovered that the same boy was the illegitimate son of Capitan General Don Janus Moros of _The Daedalus_ and his Mexican mistress Omaria Dessala. We thought it was an interesting side note and didn’t think much of tit until Daniel, here,” she paused to send a blinding and still proud smile his way, “ found this obscure Spanish book published in 1905 titled: _The Dessala Family: An 18th Century Family_.”

“It was a collection of letters, actually,” Daniel gently corrected with some pride. 

Vala nodded in acknowledgement, “Right. So, you’re probably asking yourselves: why is this important? It’s important because the Dessala ran the mule train that transported the Queen’s Dowry over the mountains from the Pacific and loaded it onto the Spanish galleons, here in Veracruz, where it set sail to the Caribbean.” Vala pointed to the coastal city on the map leaving the imprint of the finger on the glass that covered it. 

“And as I’m reading this,” Daniel spoke, “I realise that the answer to all this is right there, in the last letter Moros wrote Omaria. He wrote: my faith in the _Odisea_ is that she is swift and light and will outrun all the storms we most certainly will cross. But it is my faith my in Orlin that knows no bounds. Our son is good and strong and wiser than this old fool who leaves your bed more and more reluctantly. The glory of the Spanish Crown rest in his capable hands.” 

Vala couldn’t help the affected smile that creeped onto her face as Daniel recounted the letter. It never mattered how often she read it or heard it from his lips, the sweet language always affected her, and glancing over towards Landry and Carolyn she saw that it too had them by their heartstrings. 

Landry was the first to recover, rubbing his chin. “So Moros pulled a switch-a-roo and had the Dessala's move the dowry form _The Daedalus_ to the _Odisea_ , the supply ship.” 

Next to him, Carolyn leaned forward. “But why do that in the first place. The dowry would have safer on _The Daedalus_ , don’t you think?” 

Daniel nodded, “True, _The Daedalus_ was the more powerful of the ships, but it already overloaded especially with the treasure and it would have been very heavy and slow.” 

“Yes, and it wasn’t just hurricanes that they had to watch out for. British warships, French privateer, pirates. Though, I do believe I would have suited the pirate life,” Vala winked.

Across from her, Daniel rolled his eyes. “Anyway, back to the story. As Vala and I started getting ready to leave she finds this article about a Spanish sailor that was founded marooned off a deserted island after being shipwrecked for three years.” 

“Off Top Sail Key, I’m guessing.” Landry said.

“Right! In 1718.” Vala nodded. 

“Three years after the hurricane,” Daniel added, finishing her sentence. 

It was so quickly that they fell into their rhythm of finishing (or even starting) each other’s sentences, Vala mused, continuing the tale. “It was a Dutch frigate that had come to shore, got caught in the reef, where while waiting for the tide to rise, they saw what looked to be an old man paddling out to them.Only it wasn’t an old man, but a young boy, twenty-one years of age.” 

“Orlin,” Carolyn breathed. 

“Yes, only that’s not what he told the Dutch captain. Instead he told him that his name was Rafael Serrano of the tobacco ship, _Omaria_.”

Carolyn quirked an eyebrow, sharing a look with her father, “As in his mother…”

Vala smiled mischievously, “Exactly. He told them that he had hit the same reef and sunk in just thirty feet of water.”

Leaning back on his plush sofa, Landry gave an appraising look at Daniel and Vala, “Very impressive.” Vala and Daniel started to sit up straighter when Landry finished his sentence, “still thin, though.” 

Vala began to frown, but not for long as Daniel pulled out the trump card. 

He leaned forward, “That’s not all though, the _Omaria_? She's was a real ship, she just didn’t sink of Top Sail Key. She sank of the coast of Veracruz, with all hands, including her captain, Rafael Serrano.”

“And, most importantly,” Vala joined in, “the _Omaria_ was owned by the Dessala family.” 

At that Vala watched as Landry and Carolyn’s eyes shone with understanding and wonder. It never got old seeing the effect of tale on others.

“Well, imagine that.” Landry spoke, a quiet timber in voice giving way to the awe he felt. 

Daniel was practically bouncing with unexpressed excitement, “Yes, so looking back, what do we know about Orlin Dessala. He survived a hurricane, a shipwreck, starvation, pirates mostly likely and then he _lied_ about it.” He ticked off each point with his fingers, meeting Vala’s eyes, before finishing. “Now, why would someone lie about being part of the greatest treasure fleet in the history of the world?”

“Unless you sitting on top of a huge secret; a secret that not even the King of Spain knew about. We could only think of one reason: Honor.”

Vala nodded in agreement with him, “Because his father had entrusted him with the most precious of tasks. He had to survive to fulfil the privilege Urbino had bestowed upon him. That’s why he lived, that’s why we can’t give up.” She paused to give a significant look at Daniel, “Orlin Dessala is the unsung hero of an entire nation—” 

“And we intend to prove it,” Daniel finished, smiling at her.

In front of them Hank Landry and his daughter appeared to be a daze spun of the story they had just told them. (Again, Vala couldn’t help but feel a little proud.)

Carolyn was the first to break out of her daze with a question, “So what happened to him?” 

“Orlin?” Daniel ventured.

Carolyn nodded. 

“Sadly, he was taken off the Dutch ship in Martinique and died a week later of consumption.” Vala replied. 

A sad but understanding look cross Carolyn’s face, the doctor in her taking over for a second. 

“So, that’s our idea,” Vala smiled, hoping they had persuaded Landry to help them in their quest.

Landry started at her and Daniel for a minute before turning to Carolyn, “What do you think?” 

Carolyn seemed genuinely surprised at the consideration her father gave on this matter. “You’re asking me?”

Landry shurgged, smiling, “Well, how would rather spend these last three weeks before you start you job at the hospital? A treasure hunt or searching for an apartment?”

The twist of Carolyn’s lips amused Vala because she knew, from her afternoon spend with the brunette, that finding an apartment was the least of her problems. Especially considering she already had made an appointment with Kelwona Real Estate, the best agency on the island. Carolyn had just been hoping to get of the her father’s yacht as soon as possible, but it was obvious she was reconsidering it. 

As Carolyn thought the idea over, Vala looked over to Daniel, surprised to find him already staring at her. The second their eyes locked, she watched the slight flush appear on his cheeks and could feel the hair’s on the back of her neck stand in anticipation. She didn’t look away from him until Carolyn’s voice broke their impromptu staring constant. 

“How can I say no to such an adventure?” Carolyn smiled, lifting her shoulders. 

Vala looked away from Daniel and clapped her hands, “Fantastic!”

Daniel stood to shake hands with Landry, “Thank you, for this.” 

Landry nodded, turning to shake Vala’s hand.

As they began planning, Vala started off by mentioning, “First off, let’s call Cameron.” 

Daniel chuckled. 

She smirked.


	5. Chapter 5

Daniel crossed his arms and held back his smile as the small speed boat reached the yacht. 

Cameron Mitchell stepped off, giving Vala a one armed hug, a small duffel bag slung over his shoulder and Ray Bans firmly in place, and extended a friendly hand towards Hank Landry. He looked every bit of the good Southern boy his mother raised him to him to be, already oozing an easy charm and friendliness, without even saying a word. Cam, like Jack, was an ex-Navy SEAL, having left the service after a debilitating accident that had almost taken away his ability to walk. He had relocated to the island some years back, after a talk with one Jack O’Neill, his old commander, and like Daniel got sucked into the world of wreck-diving and treasure salving. And while Cameron didn’t talk about it at all, Daniel was sure that Cam’s partnership with himself and Vala left some bad blood between Cam and Jack, who he knew were still as friendly as anyone could ever be with Jack. But, Cam didn’t talk about it much, so Daniel didn’t ask.

“Cameron Mitchell, pleased to meet you, sir.” He gave Landry that sunny grin and Daniel could tell Cameron was already in the man’s good books. It never failed to amaze.

“Pleased to meet you, son.” Landry nodded, before introducing Cam to Carolyn. Daniel couldn’t help but notice how Cameron raised the charm up a notch, especially after Carolyn’s cool hello.

After introductions were made, Cam then turned to Daniel, “What no hug, Jackson? You hurt me.”

Daniel laughed, before stepping forward, hugging his friend hello. “Nice to see you too, Mitchell. Here, let me help with all that stuff.”

“Thanks.” Cameron said, stepping aside. Besides himself, some of Vala’s clothes, and more than a few of notebooks, Cam had also brought with him the supplies they would need for starting the search for the _Odisea_. 

As the three of them, Cameron, Vala, and Daniel, started to move the supplies on board, Vala reached out and surprised Daniel by placing a load of kisses on his and Cameron’s cheeks.

“Just like old times, boys,” Vala winked at both of them.

Grinning happily, Daniel ducked his head and shook it. The flush of heat he had felt at the feel of Vala’s lips against his skin was a dangerous one. They were divorced, for god sakes, but apparently his body liked to forget the fact.

Next to him, Cameron, the lucky bastard, just laughed, “Damn straight, princess. Got the band back together.” 

Sometimes Daniel really hated his friend.

\--

It didn’t take long after the initial introductions for Vala to start filling in Landry and Carolyn on the more technical and hands-on aspects of their little quest. With help from Cam and Daniel, they started teaching both Landrys the basics of deep sea diving and treasure salving. It was simple enough. Carolyn was young and while she lacked the muscle definition of Vala, who had spent years swimming in the ocean and running on the beach, she had a trim body, which she clearly took care of. Daniel guessed it was the doctor in her and it was clear after the first day in ocean, as they made their way from Key West to Top Sail Key, that Carolyn was a strong swimmer. 

It also appeared that whatever little friction that had been between her and Vala after the revelation of Vala’s less than honest intentions in befriending her had cooled.

Her father was a slightly different story. 

Hank Landry, in his younger years, as he shared with the group, had been in the Air Force and quite fit, but his age and years of working behind a desk betrayed him. Vala, of course, had laughed charmingly as she helped him and Daniel could see her working her magic on Landry, not once letting man become aware of the fact that they were training him as you would train a child.

Both generally, though, were good sports about it and each day they approached Top Sail Key Daniel felt more and more confident about this whole expedition in general. It was nice, he had to admit, working on something he loved with people that he cared for greatly. He still worked, naturally. He still maintained and carried out all his duties, even when Landry offered him an out, but Daniel had declined, and not just because he felt guilty or bad to suddenly be in Landry’s favour, even though he did sometimes. No, the major reason Daniel declined was because the more he was doing then less was the chance Vala could corner him somewhere on the seventy-five foot yacht. Because Daniel was no idiot and he knew it, deep in his bones, that it would be a very bad idea for him and Vala to spend any significant time all alone. Especially with her running around half dressed all the time. 

Very bad. 

As it was, Vala kept herself just as busy as he did. Going over each scrap of notes they had left (the boat sinking still prickled at them both), spending time teaching Carolyn and Landry, hanging out and working with Cameron and occasionally flirting with John. The last one, Daniel could admit, he could have lived without, but he also knew Vala and understood that half the time flirting came as easy to her as breathing. It had taken him the first two years of marriage to completely understand and accept it. And now, well, he guessed it wasn’t his problem anymore. 

The thought left an ugly taste in his mouth, which turned into thoughts he didn’t like having, so he just pushed them away. 

Regardless, John only seemed to flirt back only for fun and without any intent to pursue, as he had assured Daniel. (Not that Daniel had felt threatened, at all.)

The only real blessing during these three days of travel was Cameron. Working his natural charm, he had already managed to diffuse what could have been about five and half major fights (or possible make out sessions, if he was honest) between Daniel and Vala. It was practically normal for them to fight, but Daniel would rather not have any of them in front of his employer, which about three of them had almost been. Cameron had injected himself at the right moment each time. Bless the man. 

Now Daniel was heading up toward the sun deck, as their short trip came to an end. He could already see Top Sail Key just on the horizon and suddenly the quiet anticipation he had been feeling for the last few days was threatening to raise his blood pressure. When he reached the top he blinked, his glasses glinting in the harsh sun light. Just towards the bow, by the extra steering controls that could be found on the deck, stood everybody else. 

Cameron was leaning against one of the seats, his feet propped up on the small table in front of him. Dressed in broad short and opened, short sleeved white shirt, and dark sunglasses covering his eyes, he was the very picture of laid back and loving it. An ironic statement, as Daniel was sure that just like him and Vala, Cameron couldn’t wait to get into the water. Across from Cameron stood Landry and John at the helm, both dressed in their respective uniforms: a casual suit and captain’s uniform. To Landry’s right Carolyn, sunglasses perched on her forehead, leaned against the ridge of the deck, half listening to her father and Vala speak, half staring out into the horizon.

But it was Vala that made him smile. Sitting just by John, practically on the railing, she was having a hard time hiding her excitement as she described the island to Landry. Her hair was swept up in a pony tail and she had barely bothered fully dressing, clad in a pair of very familiar looking cut offs and a black one-piece. 

As Daniel approached, he could hear her describing where she and Cam had found the plate. 

“We found the plate near the reef, just on the other side.” She explained, just as Daniel reached them, sending a sweet smile his way. “Hello there, darling.” 

He smiled back, nodding to everyone as Landry asked a question. 

“But you haven’t got the exact co-ordinates?”

Daniel twisted his lips and sent Vala a look, wondering just how she was going to answer this question. 

As her luck would have it, Mitchell answered for her, “That won’t be a problem, there, sir.” He stood, brushing past Carolyn, aiming a grin at her, as he stood by Vala, nudging her amicably. 

“Oh?” Landry asked. 

Vala winced, “We sort of left a marker—” 

“They sank the boat, is what they mean.” Daniel rolled his eyes, glaring at both of them.

Vala gave that fake put upon smile, which to Daniel always meant trouble, but she sounded sincere enough when she said, “But we would never do that to your boat.” 

“Just mine,” Daniel added, somewhat petulantly. That boat had been his ticket back into the real world. And, if he was honest, that boat had held more than a few precious memories. 

“Our boat,” Vala challenged.

“My boat,” Daniel shot back.

“Ours.” 

“Mine.” 

And they would have continued on if Carolyn hadn’t interrupted them. 

“Um, everybody, I’m not an expert at this, but it looks like someone has beat us to your treasure.” 

At those words, Daniel and Vala’s head snapped away from each other so fast it was a shock they didn’t get whiplash. But they didn’t care, because Carolyn was right. 

There, just where Daniel had a pretty good feeling his boat lay under thirty feet of water, was a boat with two giant tubes going out the back. The boat looked familiar, but he couldn’t recognise it from this distance. Something Vala was already working on as she hopped down from she had been sitting on the railing and snatched up the binoculars that had been lying by John’s side. She was already pressing them to her eyes and leaning as far as she could from the bow when she snatched them off, cursing. 

“Bloody hell! It’s Jack.” 

“What!” Daniel exclaimed and snatched the binoculars right out Vala’s hand and taking a look for himself. And there 100 yards of the reef, right over where Vala had sunk their ship was Jack and his rag tag crew on the _Homer_. Hell had just frozen over and Daniel had only one thing to say.

“Son of a bitch.” 

And with that Vala ran down the stairs to the main deck to get as close as physically possible to the other boat. Daniel followed her without a second’s thought and he heard the others following him. As they rushed across the main deck to the furthest point closest to the bow, Daniel could already hear Jack and Vala yelling at each other. 

Nothing new. 

“It’s mine, Jack!” Vala yelled, her voice carried by the wind. 

“Not if I find it first!” Jack taunted back. 

As the approached the smaller boat, Daniel had to wonder just how Jack got here, right to this spot where Vala had said the plate was. He knew Vala wouldn’t have just called up Jack for a chat and just tell him about the fact she had found the proverbial missing link in a two hundred year old mystery. There was Cameron, of course, but Daniel knew the man too well and knew he would never betray Vala’s trust in such a way. These turns of events were eating at Daniel when Vala rushed pass him towards the back of the boat. 

“How long do you think they been here?” Carolyn asked as they started to pull along side. 

“Probably not more than a day or so— it takes a full day to lay the grid.” Cameron saved Daniel the trouble of answering as he went to follow Vala, because he suddenly knew just what the hell she rushed off for. 

He caught up with her at the back of the yacht, about to toss a tank and mask overboard. 

“Vala!”

“Can’t talk now, Daniel. Have things to do.” She spoke quickly, moving to continue her plan. 

“No, wait! He pulled her back to face him. “What’s Jack doing here?”

She rolled her eyes, trying to get away.  “Obviously someone hired him.” 

He rolled his eyes right back at her, unamused. “And who would do that besides us, we’re the only ones that know….” Trailing off, he hoped that it wasn’t what he thought, giving Vala a pointed look. From the look on her face he wasn’t that lucky. 

“ _Vala_.”

Dejected, Vala bit her lips before answering and confirming Daniel’s fears. “It might have been Baal.”

“What! Vala, why?” 

“He might, possibly, own the island.” Was her answer and Daniel could feel his blood pressure rising. See, Daniel, this is why you divorced her, he reminded himself. Of course this moment of self reflection had him dropping the hand he had on her arm and Vala took the opportunity to finish tossing the diving equipment over board and following it with a smooth dive. 

“VALA!” He shouted after her. 

Her only answer after she surfaced for a second was, “Stall for me, darling.”

Daniel only stared after her for a second or two before running back to where everybody was. He had to stall for Vala, because Jack was going to kill them one way or another, and it might as well be later. 

\--

On the old fishing trawler, the _Homer_ , Jack O’Neill watched at the luxury yacht dropped anchor just next to his smaller boat. _Show off_ , he thought, watching as a stout man, probably in his later fifties, not unlike Jack himself, came out on deck. The man reeked money in his crisp suit, not to mention the uppity air he had around him.  

“Ahoy, there! Good morning,” the man called out, friendly enough. 

Jack shrugged, “Morning to you. Quite the bucket you got there.” 

“Thank you!” The man nodded back as three other people became visible just behind him. A young woman, Daniel and Cameron. Jack had to hold back the laughter that threatened to over take him. Of course, if Danny boy and Mitchell were here, Vala was. He shook his head as Daniel greeted him. 

"Jack."

"Daniel." Jack nodded back, where Daniel was standing on the deck looking both amused and uncomfortable, "And where's that pain in the ass wife of yours?" 

Daniel smirked, "Ex-wife." 

"I don't know who I should be congratulating here." Jack smirked back, and really, he didn’t, after all he had always thought those two deserved each other and their respective craziness. This news was almost sad. He had officiated, after all.

"Funny." Daniel rolled his eyes. 

"I noticed nobody got the boat." He gave a pointed look to the ocean below them. 

Daniel winced, "She doesn't like to talk about it."

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” He shook his head, not for the first time marvelling the lengths Vala would go to get something she wanted. 

Before Daniel could answer though, the suit interrupted him. “And have you found anything yet, Mr. O’Neill?”

Jack rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses, resting a foot in the cooler in front of him, leaning forward. “Well, sir, we’ve just finished setting up our charges and planning to take a look. Feel free to go far away to save that sweet paint job you’ve got going on.” 

The man just called back his thanks, still as friendly as ever, almost making Jack feel sorry for the three misfits he had partnered up with. Almost, but not enough to stop his work. Calling over to this crew he said some of his favourite words ever, “Let’s blow some holes!” 

\--

In the water Vala swam under the _Gateship_ , heading towards the grid Jack and his team had set up only a day before. She had to wait until the last two of Jack’s divers left the area and head back to the _Homer_ , before she could start, but as soon as they were gone she swam swiftly towards the grid. 

Moving as fast as possible, because she didn’t know how long it would be until Jack started setting of the charges, she began pulling the pins that held the grid in place—  _like hell Jack O’Neill was going to beat her to the find of the century_. It was nothing against Jack, not _really_ , but she (and Daniel) had fought and bled for this when he hadn’t even believed them half the time. Jack had the hard habit of only believing of what he saw, what _he_ thought, the stubborn ass that he was. And as much as she had cherished all those years she worked for him that last time, when _he_ took the credit for something _she and Daniel_ had found, well, that had been the last straw. 

She and Daniel had left rightfully incensed after that and since then they had made damn sure that theirs and Jack’s path didn’t cross. 

Fucking Baal. 

Vala cursed the man, knowing he must have been the one that put Jack on this little search. She should have made sure to take, or break, that plate when she had had the chance. 

Too busy trying to take apart as much of the grid as possible, Vala hoped Daniel was doing his part of distracting Jack, because she could only imagine what would happen if he looked down and saw—-

 _BOOM!_

The explosion happened behind her, catching her off guard, and the pressure of the water pressed achingly against her skin as it shoved her forward. It pushed her back, crashing her into part of the grid and she knew she’d have a lovely bruise on her lower back before the day ended. In the same second though, she saw it. 

Floating out the sand cloud that had occurred in result of the explosion was a sword. Covered in barnacles, the rapier moved towards her and without a thought she snatched from the blue water it floated in.

She barely had her hand around it when the second explosion propelled her towards the surface.

\--

During the time that Vala was dismantling the grid, Daniel was making sure that Jack didn’t notice that fact. Up on the main deck of the ship, the small face off between Jack and himself continued. Jack spoke and bantered with Landry and Cameron as Daniel kept a careful eye of the grid below them, more specifically on the barely visible figure swimming around it. 

Keeping half of his attention on Vala and half on the conversation between Jack and Landry, Daniel almost missed it when Jack yelled out it was time to blow the charges. 

Right away, Daniel straightened, his eyes flitting straight to Vala who was still under the water. “Move, move, move,” he hissed under his breath. 

“What did you say?” Carolyn asked from his right. Daniel tried to wave her off but she followed his line of sight and at once realised what he meant. 

“Oh my god, Vala!” She exclaimed, clamping her hand over her mouth when she realised she spoke too loudly. Sharing an equally worried look, Daniel and Carolyn turned, hoping Jack hadn’t heard her. 

No such luck. 

“Crazy bitch!” Jack yelled, angrily pointing to where Vala’s figure moved obviously under the water. “I’ll get her out of there myself!” At those words somebody on Jack’s boat blew one of the charges.

 _BOOM!_

When the first of the charges went off there were a few minutes of disarray as the crews of both boats started yelling in shock, anger, and surprise. Daniel was perphially aware of hearing Carson and Rodney stepping out of the galley, looking to see what was going on, as well as Carolyn’s scream as the boom occurred. Daniel could only keep his eyes of where Vala’s body was still in one piece (thank god!) under the water.

“Vala!” He shouted before turning to Jack and yelling at the man as well for being insane. That was his wife down there! Ex-wi—Daniel cut his off his own mental amendment focusing on where Vala’s body was. 

On his boat Jack was too busy to listen to Daniel, yelling at whoever had blown the charge, “Who the hell set of that charge, there’s a person down there!” A flurry of movement and things Daniel couldn’t heard happened on the neighbouring boat and then, suddenly, another charge was set off. His eyes focused on Vala’s body, Daniel watched as the pressure the explosion had on the water pushed at Vala. It slammed her into the hull of Jack’s ship, out of breath, but alive. Everyone was still moving, everybody on the _Gateship_ practically tipping out of the yacht as they leaned forward to make sure Vala was okay. Thankfully she was, one hand curled on one of the water holes on, treading water, her other hand holding what looked to be a sword.

 _Sword? What the hell?_

“You okay?” Daniel yelled, forgetting the sword for a second, part of him tempted to dive overboard to make sure.

Vala nodded, “Hey, darling! I’ll be just over!”, and then used the last remaining ounce of her strength to throw the sword towards the _Gateship_ , like she was throwing a spear or lance. Thanks to many years of swimming and playing in various sports, her throw was a powerful one and the sword landed just by Carolyn and Cam’s head, sticking out of the wall of the ship like a dirty wound. From the deck below Daniel even heard Carson cheering for her, just like Landry was, and smiled.

He would be lying if he didn’t say he felt an intense amount of relief at her seeing her okay, but had to feel some pride that she used her last act to screw Jack from the sword that Cam was currently pulling from the wall.

“Vala! Here, take my hand.” On Jack’s ship there was flurry of movement and then, there by where Vala was clinging and treading water a blonde head appeared. _Sam_ , Daniel thought, relieved. She’d stopped Jack from killing Vala. 

He watched as the other woman, a renowned oceanographer in her own right who worked with Jack out of the museum on the mainland, as she leant forward to give Vala a helping hand, much to the arguments of Jack and the rest of the crew behind her. In the water Vala unclasped her diving vest, letting it go along with her air tank floating in the water next to her as she moved to take Sam’s hand.

While Sam helped Vala out of the water and onto the _Homer,_ Daniel squinted, peering at Vala, trying to make sure even at this distance that she wasn’t hurt. As he kept his eyes on Vala he didn’t miss as Jack rounded on her, point and scowling and probably threatening bodily harm.  

He could just imagine what Vala was saying back and how that would go over. And then, Daniel didn’t have to imagine so much. 

“Jack!” Daniel and Sam called out at the same time as Jack picked Vala up and slung her over his shoulder like a rag doll. Vala shirked in surprise but did not delay in starting to trying to kick and punch whatever piece of Jack she could reach. Daniel winced, after all, Vala packed a punch. 

“Put me down, Jack O’Neill!” She shouted, red-faced. 

“Not a problem, princess,” Jack replied, cuttingly, as he walked her to the edge of the ship and did indeed put her down. Overboard. 

Again, Daniel, Sam, and now several others shouted in protest, but Jack didn’t seem to care.

The sound of Vala’s body made a resounding splash as she hit the water. 

She came up to the surface a few seconds later and began swimming to the _Gateship_ , but not before sending Jack the finger. Amused and relieved, Daniel hid a smile as he rushed down to meet her. 


	6. Chapter 6

Hours later, after Vala had been checked over by Carolyn, who made sure that Vala wasn’t in danger of broken bones or a concussion she sat with Cameron on the deck as they gently began cleaning the sword she had found in the water. As she carefully tried to removed at the residue that had built up on the blade, she and Cameron heard as a plane flew over head. 

Not taking her eyes off the sword, Vala asked, “That wouldn’t be the engine of a yellow seaplane, now would it?” 

Cameron barely glanced over his shoulder, resting his chin on his raised fist. “I’d say it was more of a canary colour.” 

“Hmm,” Vala nodded, frowning. 

“Are you going to tell Daniel?” Cameron questioned. 

“No need to worry him, Cameron. It’s just a plane,” she answered, her hand not stopping their actions. Baal was hovering could only mean trouble later on.

—

Smoothing the invisible creases in his crisp button down, Daniel felt rather odd, as he was about to join Hank Landry for dinner and not in the capacity of the yacht’s steward, but as a guest. It was a sort of celebration for their first relatively successful day on the search. He could hear the familiar sounds of Carson and Rodney talking in the galley as they were most certainly preparing dinner. Not a surprise at all, as they normally talked and fought while making any meal, but something not normal was the fact that they were talking about Vala. Not that he was all that surprised, as he thought on it, Vala had a way of keeping people talking. 

Pausing just at the entrance to the galley, Daniel figured it wouldn’t hurt to eavesdrop a little, it’s not like they were paying attention to him in their regalement of the events of the day.

“I like her.” Carson smiled, chopping the vegetables. 

Rodney rolled his eyes, muttering, “You would.” Earning points in Daniel’s book.

Carson ignored his partner and continued happily chopping. “She’s lovely. A breath of fresh air around her and you can see she still loves Daniel.” 

“You’d have to be blind not to.” Rodney agreed, and suddenly Daniel didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“So, you see it too.” 

“Of course, still doesn’t mean she’s isn’t crazy.” 

“So is love.” 

“Oh my god, you did not just say that.” Rodney blinked, shocked at the sappiness emanating from Carson.

“Shut it, Rodney. Don’t think I don’t know about that romantic you try to hide.” Carson continued happily, “Tell me you don’t find them adorable together.” 

Rodney made a sound of agreement, “Doesn’t hurt that she’s hot. Daniel was crazy letting that go.” 

Carson frowned, “Oh, I know. I do hope she manages to win our boy back. He needs some love.” 

At that Daniel couldn’t keep quiet anymore, appalled that they were taking Vala’s side. Weren’t they supposed to be _his_ friends! “Are you serious!?” He exclaimed, crossing his arms as he faced the two traitors in front of him. 

Carson dropped his knife on the counter at Daniel words, turning to the man, a sheepish look on his face. “Oh, um, sorry, lad.” He grinned widely at Daniel, “And don’t you look dapper!” 

Rodney said nothing, snorting to himself. 

Daniel narrowed his eyes at them peevishly, “Yeah, thanks. I’ll see you later.” Trying to keep his pout in check, Daniel started up the stairs to the main deck where dinner was going to be served. Even on his turf, Vala had his friends were turning against him. 

The table was set up on the back deck of the main level and Daniel could see that everybody was already there. Cameron was sitting to Carolyn’s left at the round table, Vala on his other side, and at Carolyn’s right sat Landry, smiling and smoking a cigar, like the king of the table. As Daniel approached he could see that there was only one place left for him to sit and that was in between Vala and Landry, the former of the two being the real problem. 

Quietly taking his seat, Daniel nodded to Landry thanking for allowing Daniel to join them tonight. 

Dinner proceeded without issue and as Daniel ate, half listening to the many stories that Cameron and Vala regaled Landry and Carolyn through the evening (most that he had heard most before), he couldn’t help but mentally compliment Carson and Rodney for the food. The two chefs might be some of the most opinionated (Rodney) and annoyingly optimistic (Carson) people he knew, but they made some great food. 

As dinner winded down and Cameron finished a story about his one of his cousins, Daniel let his eyes drift over to Vala, who despite looking like she was paying attention, he could tell was feeling the effects of the day, her normally shining grey eyes soft and hazy. He watched as she sipped her wine carefully, smiling and adding the right anecdotes at the right time. Even at the most tired, she was always the most charming and disarming person in a room. 

At least to Daniel. 

That, definitely hadn’t mellowed over the years. Finishing toasting the _Odisea_ , Daniel watched vaguely amused as Cameron jokingly suggested making the toast more memorable with a little trip to the mainline for some dancing. When both Vala and Carolyn turned him down, promising a raincheck, he pouted until Landry offered a night cap, cigars and brandy included. Cameron jumped on the offer and Landry turned to Daniel asking if he would join them. 

Just as Daniel politely refused the offer, Vala was refusing Carolyn’s own offer for their own version of a night cap. Not paying attention to each other both Daniel and Vala stood at the same announcing they were going to be retiring to their room. 

“Thank you, sir, but I should get to bed.” 

“Oh, maybe next time, Carolyn, I’m absolutely destroyed.” 

Glancing at Vala, Daniel winced because he knew exactly what this just ended up looking like. The wide smile Vala was giving not helping the matter any. 

From his seat Cameron snickered, “Well now, don’t mind us then.” Daniel could almost hear the “lovebirds” his traitorous friend left out of the end of that sentence and shot him a glare. 

“We’re not—this wasn’t,” Daniel began explaining that what had just occurred had been pure coincidence, but it was obvious that nobody was even pretending to believe him. 

Vala giggled, leaning over to press a kiss on his cheek, “Now, darling, all you had to do was ask.” 

“Vala!” Daniel flushed, watching as she turned and bid them all good night again. 

Fighting his blush, Daniel turned to the table and did the same. But, as he headed down to the crew’s quarters he couldn’t help but rather seriously entertain the thought. The sex had always been good — really good, actually — and the sex they had after discovering something had been…

Daniel let the thought trail off. In no way could finishing it lead to someplace good. They were divorced, for God sakes! 

—

Unzipping the dress that Carolyn had graciously let her borrow for the evening, Vala stretched her sore muscles. Her entire back was tense and just at the small of it where it dipped and curved into her ass, she has, as she had predicted, a spectacular bruise forming. Just the width of the part of the gird she had slammed into this afternoon. The rest of her back was no better, aching from where she had connected with Jack’s boat. It was all bruised, thankfully, but her muscle definitely protested at being thrown into hard surfaces. Taking a deep breath, she gritted her teeth past the pain she felt and joined her hands together in Mountain Pose, breathing in for a couple of seconds before stretching her arms above and behind her head, keeping her hand together and arching her torso backwards. 

It was a low arch, not up to her usual, but she didn’t want to strain the muscles in her back too much. Exhaling, she leaned forward, bending at her waist to reach down and bring her hands to frame her feet. The muscles in her back now stretched and pulled the other way, warming under her skin. Straightening her spine and the back of her legs, Vala breathed out as she brought her chest to touch her thighs. Ironically, she could feel her back relaxing, no pressure on her spine. Breathing before she went into the pose, Vala let herself remember the first time Daniel had seen her do yoga. To this day the look he got in her eyes brought a smug smile to her lips. 

Inhaling, she moved her left leg back, letting her body drop into a lunge. Brining her right knew knee to a ninety degree angle, she could feel the heat of the muscles under her thighs, aching wonderfully. As she lowered her torso to rest on her right thigh, she breathed as she straightened her back leg, pressing her left heel to the floor. Her body felt like an arrow, taught and ready to be released. Exhaling, she brought her right leg back to rest beside her left and then repeated the movement with the opposite leg. After she was done stretching both legs, Vala rested in Downward Facing Dog, breathing as she stepped her right leg forward to rest between her hands. Stepping out of it, she bent her body in Dolphin Pose, coming to the floor on her hands and knees, her forearms resting on the floor. Curling her toes, she exhaled and lifted her knee of the floor, taking her back into a high arch. Forearms still pressed onto the floor, she firmed her shoulders and widened them away from her spine. She breathed, letting herself and muscles relax, and straightened her legs as she got ready to drop the stance. 

Slowly and mindful of her limited space, she walked her feet backwards and dropped her body until it was perpendicular with the floor. Her hand and forearms now pressed together in front of her, making her look like she was doing an odd set of push ups or Mountain Pose but horizontal. Rolling her shoulders, she lengthened and lifted her legs, never letting feet leave the ground. Dropping her head, she closed her eyes for a beat, wondering what Daniel was doing now. He never took to her yoga as way of relaxing, no matter how much he enjoyed watching her. Vala figured he was probably reading over his notes, thoughts far away from where he actually was. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath as she moved her hand to rest on the floor, her forearms pressed against her sides. She slide her chest forward, letting her legs drop. Lifting her chest, she stretched her shoulders and neck. 

Holding that for a few breaths, Vala then bent her back up from Cobra into Downward Facing Dog. Keeping her back in straight line, letting the line continue down her arms to where her hands rested on the floor, head dropped between her arms. She kept the pose for a while, letting her muscles relax into in before she slowly from her right leg, moving herself into a lunge. Supporting herself with her hands, she let her back knee drop onto the floor, extending the calf and foot back. Making sure she was centred, she lifted her hand off the mat and stretched them above her head, leaning forward just enough to keep her centre of gravity straight. 

With one last exhale she brought her back left forward and stepped into Standing Half Forward Bend, keeping her legs straight and bent at the hips, keeping her torso parallel to the ground, back flat. Pressing her legs together, she pulled her thighs back, feeling the muscles in them stretch all the way down to her hamstrings up to her lower back. Bending her knees, she slowly lifted her body back into a standing position.  

Smiling at the feeling for her stretched but no longer overtly painful muscles, Vala arched her back on last time before walking to the small dresser that her room had. Yoga always did clear her thoughts, and now she knew just how to ensure that Baal didn’t mess with them. Opening a drawer, she plucked out a pair of short and tank top and her waterproof bag, heading to her bathroom and snatching her one piece from where she had left it to dry. 

Slipping the suit on, she stuffed the clothes into the bag and slipped her water shoes on. As she padded her way up to where they were keeping the diving suits and equipment, she considered stopping and telling Daniel or Cameron of her plan, but didn’t. The less they knew the less trouble they’d get themselves into, the two men being some of the most virtuous and sometimes annoying ethical men she knew. 

In other words, they’d try to talk her out it.

Reaching the deck, she picked up one of the spare tanks and masks, along with the sword and headed downstairs to the aft of her yacht where she tossed the tank over the low diving platform. Putting her mask on, she made sure that her bag was closed and dived right in after the tank. 

“For the _Odisea_ ,” she muttered.

It took her fifteen minutes swimming from where the Gateship was at anchor to the shore. There Vala unclipped the diving equipment from her body and took her clothes out of the waterproof bag she had stuck them in. Once she had slipped on a pair of shorts and ratty tanktop over her wet body, not caring in the least about getting them wet. Sword in hand, she made her up the beach towards the town. 

She had to make sure Baal left them alone, one way or another. 

—

Baal's club on the island, The Snake’s Head, was just a front. A very lucrative front, but a front nonetheless. Usually open late on the weekends, Vala was thankfully it was only Wednesday. She didn’t need anyone tipping Baal off that they had seen her. Sneaking her way through the back, where the kitchen was, she made her way inside the practically deserted building. 

Staying close to the large warehouse fridges near the back, she grinned as she saw Curtis make his way through the kitchen. Perfect. 

Slowly, she creeped behind the man who was too busy looking at his bowl of jumbo, and slid her arm around his neck in a choke hold. The edge of the old sword pressed against his neck. 

“Do you believe in ghosts, Curtis?” she asked, smile still in place. 

Curtis tensed in front of her and sneered, “You made a mistake coming here.”

“I think that’s for me to decide. Where is Baal?” 

Curtis decided not to answer her. Instead Vala stumbled back in pain as he stepped on her bare foot and used the momentum to head-butt her. Groaning, the sword slipped form her hands and she felt herself being slammed against one of the kitchen counters. She gritted her teeth and reached out for the nearest weapon, which just happened to be a sauté pan. Crude, and most definitely not her first choice, Vala swung the iron implement at Curtis’ head. 

As she felt it connect, she decided that maybe it had been the wrong course of action to come here without aid. Kicking Curtis’ body, she scrambled to pick the sword and leave the building when she hear a voice call out to Curtis form the bar area. 

Jarran. 

Knowing she was about to make quite possibly her second bad decision of the night, Vala rushed at the door just as Jarran started to open it. Swing doors were God’s greatest creation, she thought, running through them, catching Jarran right in the head. He fell to the ground much like Curtis had, but unlike Curtis he remained conscious. Lovely. 

Vala knew she was by no means an extremely muscular person, and that if Jarran wanted he could throw her off like a rag. That’s why she loved shiny sharp objects that could do a lot of damage. Using her body weight to pin him down, she crouched over the man and pressed the sword against his jugular. “Now, will you be a good henchman and take me to Baal?” 

Jarran grunted, calling her a few choice names and letting her know that Baal still believed her to be dead. Vala grinned, pushing the sword closer to his skin. No wonder they didn’t want to her to see Baal. 

“Now, now, that’s a rather rude thing to say,” she grunted as Jarran began to struggle against her. His hands wrapped around the blade and mentally Vala froze, because she could almost see what would happen next and it was not going to be pretty. Fighting to regain the upper hand, Vala pushed the sword down against Jarran’s neck, but it did nothing. The blade was rusted and old and she knew the second that Jarran understood that while she might have a weapon, it was a rather useless one. 

Shit.

He lifted his body and threw her off, stumbling to his feet and pulling out his gun. 

Vala did the same, expect that now she was more than well aware that her rusted sword would be useless against Jarran’s semi-automatic. Still, that didn’t mean all was lost. 

“Well this was pointless,” she stood back, still pointing the sword at Jarran and hoped that some gods were smiling down on her, “but what’s even more pointless is what you’re trying to do. People have seen me alive, I’ll have you know and you wouldn’t want any of them asking about me, now would you?” She paused, as Jarran began to understand just what she was implying. “Just think what Baal will do to you if he finds out. So I propose that I make my way out of that door right over there,” Vala pointed to the front door of the bar, “and you can go wake up Curits in the kitchen and keep pretending I’m dead. How does that sound?” 

The look in Jarran’s eyes was reassuring Vala, and she was almost eighty percent sure he was going to take the deal when the front doors of the bar swung open and a large man stepped through, carrying… wait, was that a cricket bat? 

“Doesn’t work like that any more,” the cricket bat carrying stranger said.

Vala didn’t even get to reply as her left temple flared in pain and everything went black. The only thing she was sure of that getting hit in the head with a cricket bat was not how she had planned to leave this mortal coil. Daniel was going to kill her. 

Unless she died.

—

Apparently, she wasn’t dead. 

Vala became aware of this as she began waking up, her head feeling like it had been run over by a tank. Blinking groggily, she remembered, _no, not a truck, a cricket bat_. Her hand moved to her forehead as she lifted her body up and focused on her surroundings. 

There, sitting smugly in a chair by some crates, sat Baal. His blue suit crisp and dark, just like the smile he was giving her. 

“Vala, nice to you have you join us.” 

“Baal,” she breathed, trying to ignore the pain blaring up by her temple. 

“I see the talk of your death has been greatly exaggerated,” he spoke smoothly, but she didn’t miss the glare he sent Curtis and Jarran’s way.

“You can’t blame them, after all, they’re only human.” Moving to lean back against the crates behind her, she realised they were now in one of Baal’s warehouses. A place she was sure that had more than enough materials to make the disposal of her body a fairly quick endeavour. Biting her lips, Vala chose not to focus on that now. There was still time. She was still alive, she just had to keep that streak going. Her eyes fell to the man who had knocked her out. 

“And who is he? Because I must tell you, I prefer the other two's way of handling things; my head feels like there’s a bloody parade rushing through it.” 

Baal smirked, standing, brushing the lines of his suit away, “Ah, yes, Kanan. He’s, I guess you can call him, my new director of personal relations. His methods may be a bit rough, but as you can see, there’s no arguing with the results.” 

Vala rolled her eyes, and tried to hide the wince the movement caused, “Clearly.” 

“Yes, it became clear to me that I need to do some restructuring in my business. Kanan is my first step towards that.”

“Congratulations,” she grimaced. 

“And my second step…” Baal trailed off, giving Kanan a look. Vala didn’t understand the look at first, but before she could question it, she got her answer. A second later, she had to suppress the urge to scream as Kanan pulled a gun from his back and shot Curtis, who had been standing by the door. 

As she watched as Curtis’ body fell into a crumpled heap by the door, Jarran yelled, backing into the wall he stood by. It was only then that Vala noticed him. She had not doubt he was mirroring the anxious look that she knew was gracing her face. Sometimes she forgot how ruthless Baal could be, it seemed that so did his henchman. 

“Ah, now that we have that settled,” Baal continued, moving to face her. “Maybe you can enlighten me on why you’re still digging around my island.”

In that moment Vala knew she had two options. She could try and kick and fight her way out of this situation, which was rapidly spiralling out of her control with each passing second (something she was most certainly never a fan of). Or she could as Cameron like to say, use her wiles. 

Well, desperate times. 

“Baal, I think I have a proposition that you might be partial to,” she sauntered up to him and rested herself against the chair he had discarded.

He gave her a look, but didn’t say anything so Vala took that as a sign to continue. 

“With Jack looking for the _Odisea_ , you have a fifty percent chance of getting the treasure, but with my crew, well, your chances have just doubled, haven’t they?” she grinned, idly plucking at her tank top, eyes on the door. She could make it with the right distraction, if he didn’t go for her plan. 

Across of her Baal gave her a slow smile and Vala knew she wouldn’t have to throw the chair at Kanan, like she had planned. She wouldn’t be dying tonight.

—

On the _Gateship_ , Daniel was restless. He couldn’t help but keep picturing Vala as her body slammed into Jack’s boat. It wasn’t the first time one of them had been in an accident, and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last, but it was the first time in eight years he wasn’t with her. Once upon a time, he would be right next to her in her bed, kneading and tending to her sore muscles. Distractedly, he wondered if she still did her yoga routine before she went to bed. 

Closing his eyes, he didn’t want to face the realisation he had come to earlier that day: He needed to talk to Vala. He needed to tell her that he was glad she was okay and that he was proud of her. He needed to make sure that she wasn’t stressing her muscles and that she wasn’t sleeping on her back. As he stepped out of his small quarters on the yacht, he nodded to himself, pretending to believe his reasoning for creeping around a million dollar yacht in the middle of the night. 

When he got to the guest room that Vala was given, he tentatively pushed the door open. “Vala?” 

He got no answer. Frowning, Daniel pushed the door open a little further and poked his head in and called out again. 

“Vala…” 

Now the one thing that Daniel knew hadn’t changed in the eight years of knowing his wife, was that she was a light sleeper. Always had been. So if she wasn’t answering…. Crap, let him be wrong. 

Pushing the door fully open he stepped into the room and flipped on the lights.   
   
Her bed was empty.

 Fucking hell, Vala, Daniel thought as he rushed upstairs as quietly as he could. Going to the sword tank, he curse when he saw that like Vala’s room it too was empty. Vala and the sword were gone, and sadly, Daniel knew exactly where they were. 

Sometime he really hated knowing his wife so well.

Two hours later, he watched as Vala climbed back onto the boat, sword in hand. Inwardly, he was relieved that she was okay and that she manage to keep the sword, but it still didn’t lessen the amount of anger he felt towards her and her actions. As she fully lifted herself onto the deck, she raised her head and their eyes met. 

Daniel could see how tired she was, but he could also see that she was steeling herself for a fight. Good, because he wasn’t going to let this slide. 

“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” 

She sighed, pulling of the wet suit top that covered her torso, leaving her in her one piece. “Darling, it’s not what you think.” 

“Oh, and you know what think?” He couldn’t believe she was playing Landry (him!) like this.

“Of course I do! I can see it in your squint and I’m asking you to trust me. I did what needed to be done and I know you don’t like that I had to go to him to do it, but it was the only way.” 

“How much do you owe him?” he had to ask, taking the sword she handed to him. “And what happened to your head?”

“A cricket bat, if you believe it.” Vala glared at him and batted his hands away, even as he gently fingered the bruise growing on her temple. What the hell did she get herself into! “And I don’t see how the rest is any of your business, Daniel. I’ve dealt with the issue, and he won’t be bothering us anymore.” 

He flinched, but stood his ground. Later though, he would wonder why he argued with the following statement, “I’m your husband!” 

Her eyes flashed, and she stepped right up to him and poked him in his chest. “EX-husband, and don’t you forget just who wanted it that way.” 

It was funny how things changed, Daniel thought as Vala stomped way. One-second she was looking at him with wide grey eyes, full of fire and passion and the next they iced over and he could feel the chill they gave off down his spine. Picking up the sword where it had been despoiled on the deck, Daniel carried it back to the water tank they were preserving it in. Fingering the tank he wondered how the thing that had brought them together was now tearing them apart. Again.


	7. Chapter 7

As they started their search the following day, Daniel couldn’t help but follow Vala’s movements. Her mannerisms were stiff and strained and the bruise on her temple stood out magnificently by her hairline. As he watched her talk with Carolyn while they got their scuba gear ready, he noticed how the doctor’s eyes also eyed the bruise. Daniel made a mental note to make sure that Carolyn checked Vala over, if she hadn't already, lest Vala had a concussion or worse. He might still be pissed at her for going to Baal but that didn’t mean he wanted her to see her in pain.

He sighed, turning to Mitchell, who had just stepped next to Daniel on the deck. 

“Just like the old days, huh, Jackson!” Mitchell exclaimed, slapping him on the back with a wide grin. The movement made Daniel stumble and he would also have fell into the water if it hadn’t been for two pairs of hands grasping at his tank and vest.

He felt as Vala’s hand’s rested against his shoulder, and he turned to face her. 

“Still only graceful under the water, aren't you, darling?” she grinned, but he could see the light didn’t spark in her eyes. 

Snapping his mask over his eyes, Daniel smirked. “The water and one other place.” The soft blush that grew on her tanned cheeks served to lighten the weight he had felt since their fight last night.

“Exactly like old times!” Mitchell laughed, snapping his own mask before jumping into the water.

"Sod off, Cameron." Sticking her tongue out at their friend, Vala jumped in after him, Carolyn following her. It only left Landry and Daniel on the deck. 

“Is she all right?” Landry asked, fiddling with his air hose. 

Daniel gave a side long look at the man, surprised that he noticed or even cared about Vala’s demeanour. Looking over to where Vala had disappeared under the water, Daniel slid his own mask on.

“That’s what she always says.” 

Jumping in, he wished he didn’t know how much of a lie it was. Landry followed him a minute later.

—

The search continued on much of the same way for the next week. They would wake, have breakfast, spend the morning searching before breaking for lunch and then they’d go back into the water to search until the sunset. Most everyone would pack up for the day, save Vala who would spend a few more hours searching by flashlight until Cameron or Daniel would drag her in. 

Carolyn would go and camp out in the yacht’s living area surrounded by medical files and research notes. Landry would be seated at the table on the upper deck, making his own business calls. Vala noticed the tension between father and daughter, after all, she was a self taught expert in dysfunctional parental relationships, but when she would ask Carolyn, her friend, as Vala felt comfortable calling her now, would evade the subject. Vala let her, after all, it’s not like she was answering any of Carolyn’s questions about Daniel or her still healing bruise. 

In a turn of events that surprised no one, Cameron managed to make friends with Carson, a Scot, who Vala personally thought might be the loveliest person to ever exist, and the captain of the yacht, John Sheppard. So after their days of (failed) searching, he could be found in the galley catching with Carson (and trying Carson’s partner, Rodney’s, patience as he insisted on helping out. Something Carson thought was utterly charming and Rodney hated very vocally.) or up at the helm, trading stories with John. Both men had served in their day and they never had a shortage of war stories to share. 

Daniel was only other person, besides her, that didn’t let go of the _Odisea_ when the sun set. He might pack up his gear, but Vala knew that the second he was showered and dressed, after having finished any work Landry had for him to do —which, let’s face it, ever since Vala had come on board Daniel had stopped being an employee and more of a guest that just happened to be getting paid— he would open his research notebook and pour over every fact he could, hoping one of them would give them the break they were looking for. 

But they didn’t and neither did their search. Old soda cans and hub caps have been they only things that they’ve manage to discover so far, (even Jack’s crew, from what Sam had told her during an undercover session of catching up yesterday) and Vala could feel everyone’s spirits waning. And Vala was way too aware of Baal’s seaplane flying overhead every other day.

As she kicked her legs in the water, looking over the dark horizon that the sea provided for her she took a deep breath. They needed to find something. Anything. And soon.

Letting her thoughts take over, she didn’t even notice when Cameron stepped up behind her. 

“Hey, princess,” he touched her shoulder and Vala looked up her friend. “Dinner’s ready and I convinced Carson to let me make my famous cornbread, you don’t want to miss out.”

She blinked, then smiled, “No, after all, Daniel used to hog it.” Taking his hand, she lifted herself up and they turned to the steps.

“So how are you and Sunshine doing anyway?” Cameron asked, using Daniel’s old nickname, the origins of which they were no longer allowed to discuss. 

Vala gave a brittle laugh, “For two divorcees that can’t stand the sight of each other, I’d say we’re doing splendidly.” 

Rolling his eyes, Cameron nudged her, “I have mentioned you two are more stubborn that two mules tied together lately, haven’t I?”

"Fifth time today," Shaking her head, Vala was grateful that at least someone thought she and Daniel still were a pair. They weren’t exactly acting like it anymore.

—

One morning they woke to grey clouds on the horizon and by lunch the skies had opened up. The pouring rain did not seem to stop and so with all of them tired of being bogged down on the yacht and the rain sapping up everyone’s spirits, when Cameron suggested they go to the mainland and have some dinner and a drink, they all agreed.

It was nice, Vala had to admit, the change of scenery, even if throughout dinner you could tell that nobody was currently elated with how events were turning out. Even Carolyn’s laugh at Cameron’s stories of his large and crazy family seemed a little forced.

Throwing back the last of her beer, Vala looked across the table where Daniel was doing his squinty face. It only came out when he had too much to drink, when he was focusing on something and decided the rest of the world was useless, and when he was annoying. After eight years together Vala was sure the eyes weren't because he'd had too much to drink. After all she had meant what she had told him their first morning together, and over the years his tolerance for alcohol, while still not as high as hers, was decent. And since he wasn’t looking at any sort of text, Vala could surmise that the eyes only meant one things. Daniel was annoyed. 

“You know what else is really bothering me?” Daniel leaned forward, settling his own beer down on the table.

And there it was. A rant was sure to follow.

Vala groaned, dropping her head back dramatically, “No, Daniel, we don’t. Please, please tell us, because I honeslty don’t think I could live the following moment of my life unless I really know what’s really bothering you.” 

“Oh, this is fun,” Landry interjected taking a long drink from his brandy.

Daniel and Vala ignored him.

Sighing, Daniel shook his head, and gave Vala a look. It was the look he got when he just figured something out and Vala raised her eyebrow at him. 

“Daniel, what is it?” 

He sat back, his eyes getting that far away look they got when he got lost in all the facts that floated around his head, “Just, listen. Imagine if; imagine I’m a Dutch frigate stuck on reef, during a dead calm, in the same cove the _Odisea_ sank three years before, in less than thirty feet, in the clearest water in the world, then why can’t I see her?” 

His voice trailed off and Vala was there, right there with him, building up the picture he had just given them. The water would have been clear. Even today, with all the dirt now accumulated in the ocean, these waters were still blindingly clear. Back then, if the frigate had been in the same cove and the _Odisea_ had been in the water, they should have been able to see her clear as day, unless…

“Because… She isn’t there…” Vala breathed, eyes snapping to Daniel.

“It makes no sense though… Orlin specifically said that’s where she sank.” 

Vala nodded, “He was very clear on that in this story.”

At this Landry chuckled, only smiling when everyone at the table, including Cameron and Carolyn gave him a look. “Oh, sometimes I forget how young you all are.” Now they were just glaring at him, “Just think about. As you’ve said, your entire theory is based on the sole reasoning that Orlin lies about everything. Then why on earth would he tell the truth about this? If Orlin said that was _exactly_ where the _Odisea_ sank, then, the simplest conclusion we can make from this, is that it’s exactly the wrong place to look.”

Landry’s words did not sit well with Vala, mostly because they made an annoying kind of sense. Orlin did lie about everything that had to do with his time on the island and the _Odisea,_ why did they believe he hadn’t lied about this? Vala, who felt she had a unique talent for understanding when people where lying, felt disappointed in herself for not considering this sooner. Glancing at Daniel, she could see from the increasing broodiness of his brow that he was feeling something similar.

Just then, as she was about to speak, John came in, his hair sticking out every which way, even as the rain tried to tame it. “Sorry to distrub, sir, but we have to move the ship to the north side of the island on account of the storm.”

Landry frowned at John’s news, wondering, “She won’t fit in the marina?”

John shook his head, “Sorry, sir, I’m afraid she can’t. You should have a taxi take you to the North end, give us a call and we’ll pick you up when you are ready.” And with that John nodded his good-bye to them and headed back out into the rain.

Landry nodded, “Better safe than sorry. Wouldn’t want to sink.”

Grinning, Cameron added, “Or lose those cigars.”

“I don’t know, it would be ironically poetic, considering how close to shore we are.” Carolyn quirked her lips, tilting her head towards Cameron who just smiled back at her and they shared a moment of private laughter. Vala was sure she would have laughed too if it hadn’t been for the fact that Carolyn’s words sparked something in her. 

They were so close to shore… they were too close to shore!

In an instance Vala jumped from her seat and vaulted over to Carolyn, pressing a kiss to the surprised woman’s forehead, “Oh my god! That’s it! Carolyn, you are a genius.” Turning away from the table she rushed out of the cantina, hoping to catch John, not even caring about the rain. He was just opening the door to the taxi when she grabbed his arm, “Hey, JOHN. Why did you pick the north beach?”

John gave her a look that said she clearly did understand how this captain thing worked, “I didn’t,” he said slowly, “It’s the only beach on the island that isn’t blocked by the reef.”

And there it was. The last piece that made the puzzle make sense. “Yes! Thank you, John!” Vala exclaimed, bouncing where she stood. 

Behind her she heard Daniel’s voice call out to her. 

“Vala! What’s going on!”

Unable to keep the grin of her face, she turned to Daniel and gestured wildly with her arms, “He ran her to ground! Daniel, don’t you see, to save the Queen’s Dowry, Orlin ran the ship to ground!”

From the look that immediately graced Daniel’s face, she could tell that he now understood exactly what that meant. 

—

They headed back to the yacht with John, leaving Cameron, Carolyn and Landry to take the next taxi to the north beach, because they couldn’t wait. If they were right. God, if they were right, they might have just saved this entire trek. With even discussing it, the second they got onto the yacht, both Daniel and Vala went straight for the diving gear and began to suit up. They didn’t seem to care it was still raining as they stripped down in front of each other and began pulling out the supplies they would need for their nightly swim.

Daniel tossed Vala a wet suit vest, as he pulled on his own. “You think you’re right?” 

She grinned, whipping her hair into a pony tail, “You think I’m right.” 

“Not the point, Vala,” he said, grabbing a mask, “the odds that we figured this out…” 

“Are in our favour, Daniel. I mean, what else do we have to lose?” she tossed her tank into the water and jumped in after it. 

Following her lead, Daniel couldn’t help think she was right. 

Searching for anything in the ocean was a difficult task, and at the moment it was only made more difficult by the darkness of the water. Their underwater flashlights and metal detectors only helped so much, but he followed Vala down and together they searched the ocean floor for anything. Any sign that one day the _Odisea_ had been there, and hopefully that it was there still. 

They spent minutes searching side by side, then splitting up, then coming together again, and splitting up again when Daniel’s metal detectors began going off. It was getting louder and louder and the little red lights on it were lighting up so continuously that at on point it just became a pulsing red light. 

As he closed in on the spot that the metal detector was signalling at, Daniel could feel his heart hammer against his chest. It was an old and familiar feeling. The last time he had felt it, Vala had come home waving a pregnancy test at him. But this time, as his hands swept across the sand, searching for anything, it was different. The outcome would be better, because there under his hand, there was metal. 

Rounded metal — a canon! — and inscribed on it, there was a crest. One word floated above the crest. 

 _Odisea_. 

—

Daniel couldn’t believe it, they had found it! They had found the _Odisea_ and he had to tell Vala! 

Swimming away, back to the surface, Daniel couldn’t wait to see the look on her face. 

They had found it! 

As he broke the surface, he wasn’t surprised to see Vala come up just after him, but it was her smile that had his curiosity piqued. Either way, he’d ask later, because he couldn’t keep it inside anymore.

“There’s a canon!” 

“I found a canon!”

The spoke in unison and then paused, looking at each other. 

Vala broke out into a grin first, and giddily asked, “You found one too?” 

“There’s two!” Daniel couldn’t keep the excitement at bay. Together they grinned and splashed in the water, the rain now falling softly around them, and smiled some more. “There’s two!”

Laughing into the night, Vala swam over to him and planted a quick kiss on his lips — an all too familiar feeling rushed through him — before dunking him. Sputtering water as he came up, he watched the pure joy on Vala’s face.

“We found it! We found the _Odisea_.”

Daniel could have started at the happy smile on Vala’s face for the rest of the night, but a thought just popped into his head.

“Vala, we have to be careful. If anyone outside our crew finds out about this…” 

Vala’s smile dropped for a second, nodding, before it came back full force. “You’re worrying too much, darling, let’s enjoy the moment. _We found it_.” 

Daniel looked at her, at her smile, the light that was back in her eyes, and decided that for this one second, he could forget about all their trouble and just enjoy it. So he did.

Splashing at her, he smiled, and chuckled, when she splashed back.

 _They found it._

—

The next few days pass in blur of sun, sand, loads of sun-block, Cameron's attempts to hit on Carolyn, Landry’s quiet encouragement, and Vala’s enthusiasm. Daniel was sure that were their lives a film, these days would be placed in classic montage sequence set to the reggae music that Cameron played.

It was amazing how much they found in such a short amount of time. Guns, plates, utensils, a candelabra, some wine goblets, two more canons. All of them suddenly appearing everywhere they looked. And while it might not have been what they had been hoping for, Daniel had to count their finds as an archeological success. They had found where Orlin had laid the Odisea to rest, this had to mean something. 

Looking over to where Vala was walking with metal detector around the small sand bank they were currently working on, Daniel stopped brushing away the years of sand from a musket. It was rather distracting view, which Daniel solely blamed on her decision that she chose to wear her tiny black bikini today. 

“You know, there’s not much here, Daniel. I’m willing to bet that they burned the ship here and took everything else inland. It’s the only plausible explanation,” Vala called over as he pushed her sunglasses up her nose. Behind her Cameron had just uncovered another pistol and was currently showing it off to Carolyn. Daniel made a mental note to catalogue it later.

Turning back to Vala, he frowned, because she had a point. For all they had uncovered, it could only have been less than a quarter of what the _Odisea_ had left behind. “Well, what do we know about Top Sail Key?” he pondered out loud as he stood and made his way over to Vala.

“There's the town, church--” 

Vala interjected, “Preacher's cave.” 

“We were up there once, remember? It spoke about the first settlers; religious persecution. That was 1790, and Orlin would have beaten them all by more than half a century.”

“All that’s left is the church, then. It’s the oldest building on the island, and it would hold any and all information from that time period. Journal, sermons, all that fun stuff you love.”   
 Daniel smiled, “Best plan you’ve had so far.” 

“You’re just happy to be getting to your books.” 

—

On the mainland behind the sand bank, by the palms and foliage that overran the shore, Kanan set his binoculars down. 

That woman, Vala, hadn’t let them know they had begun searching elsewhere. Or of the success that she had been having.

He suspected Baal would find this turn of events interesting. 

— 

That afternoon Daniel and Vala made their way up to the church. They rented a vespa from town and Vala had a laugh when Daniel tried to remember how to get it to work. The last time either of them had been on a vespa had been in Spain during their prolonged honeymoon all those years ago. After they got it work, they made their way up the hill to where the church sat. By the time they got there the sun was beginning to set, painting the sky with a soft orange and pinks. The church was small, would have barely held more than fifty people back in the day, and it was made out of stones that glowed bronze in the setting sun. Its doors were wooden with large iron handles, and a small bell tower. Vala had to hold her breath at the sheer beauty and simplicity of the building with only a few palm trees to bookend it, and the view of the ocean behind it. Unconsciously, she rested her chin on Daniel’s shoulder as they came to a stop.

Outside there was an old priest tending to the tall grass that grew in front of the church, his wide-rimmed had blocking the sun from his dark, weathered face. As he saw them pull up he stopped ranking the fallen palm leaves and greeted them with a smile. 

“Hello, I’m Father Bratac, how can I help you today?” 

Vala grinned, extending her hand, “Hi, I’m Vala and this is Daniel, we were wondering--”

“If we could take a look in your archives room.” Daniel stepped up, offering his own hand, and the Father did the same, after shaking Vala's.

“May I ask why?” 

“I”m a bit of an amateur archeologist, and was just wondering if I could do some research on the first settlers that founded the church.” 

Vala had to school her face not to give her away, because it was always amusing when Daniel put on his perpetual student bit. For all the truth in his act, it was always a riot to see and how people just ate it up. As Daniel persuaded Father Bratac to let them into the archives, Vala had to smile. She always knew he had been paying attention when she had to con someone. 

An hour later they sat on old wooden stools, reading through the old journals that the church had. Most of them were in Spanish and despite their two years in Spain, Vala wasn’t as confident in her Spanish as Daniel was. He always did have an affinity for languages that had eluded her, so as he sped-read through the book, Vala carefully poured through the articles in front of her. 

It didn’t take her long to feel that itch of boredom. Sighing, she looked up to Daniel with her lips pressed together. She wondered if he remembered the last time they were in an archives section.

“Don’t.” Daniel spoke in that tone that meant he knew what she was thinking about.

“Don’t what?” Vala smiled.

“Don’t think about it.” He looked up from the journal he was currently reading and gave her the Look. It had been a while. It made her feel rather nostaligic.  

Vala rolled her eyes, “But it’s weird, isn’t it? Us, here, together. Surrounded by books.” 

The Look went up a couple of notches, before he turned back to the journal, “It’s not weird, Vala, it’s complicated, and not in a good way.”

“You seem to forget, I like any kinda…” she started in that low voice she knew he liked, but he cut her off. 

“Stop!” 

“No need to be rude, Daniel.” 

He over at her up at her and blinked, “What? No, not that! Just listen to this, I think I found it. It says, ‘we are by no means the first Europeans to visit here is finally proven by the discovery of a Spanish gravestone, that of a woman. I cannot but wonder who she was and how she came to die here, for the headstone reads simply _Odisea_ , 1750.”

Scrambling to his side, she leaned over his shoulder to get a better look at what he had just read, “You better not be joking, Daniel.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and continued reading, point with his finger to where he had left off. “Forsake her, I could not and so it was here on this beautiful hill top that I resolved to bury our dead and begin building a church.”

As the words came together in Vala’s head, she looked at Daniel, an understanding coming over her. “He didn’t move the head stone.” 

“And he built a church around it,” Daniel whispered, meeting her gaze.

“It’s in the cemetery,” they both spoke in unison, the space between them having been reduced as the spoke to each other.

This was the closest they had been in weeks, and Vala could see in his eyes that he had remember all too well just what happened the last time they had been together in an archive section. There was really one thing that Vala wanted to do in this moment, and so she did it, because for all their differences they still had one thing in common and it was that they loved the thrill of discovery almost as much as each other. So Vala kissed him. 

—

There wasn’t a moment of epiphany when she kissed him. It wasn’t a new feeling that overcame her when he pulled her forward and began kissing her back. It was old, it was familiar, and it was still as wonderful as before. 

Vala pushed herself off the stool she was perched on and straddled Daniel, feeling his hands settle automatically around her hips to steady her and pulled her closer to him. His hands drifted under her top and skimmed up her back, tugging at the strings of her bikini top. Vala smiled and not to be undone, she ran her nails down his abdomen, nipping at Daniel’s lips when he hissed and went about pulling it off. 

The movement was sharp, and while Daniel lifted his hands to help her along, they moved too fast and the next thing Vala knew she was screaming and then laughing as they tumbled backward to the floor. Daniel landed under her with an  _oof_ but he was smiling too. He looked up at her and for a second Vala wondered if he would stop this. 

Not for the first time in their life together, Daniel surprised her, sliding a hand through her hair and pulling her lips back down to his again. 

Vala grinned into the kiss and began trailing her lips down his jaw as their hand moved over their clothes, pushing and pulling the offending garments away. Her hands trailed down his hips, pushing his shorts down. His groan of pleasure as she wrapped her hands around him made her smirk and she bit lightly into his shoulder. 

“Miss me, darling?” she whispered into his ear. 

“Fuck, Vala,” he answered and she took that as a yes.

As she worked her hand over him, Daniel gripped her neck in a tight hold, covering her lips with his own in a deep kiss. His tongue dragged against her bottom lip and Vala didn’t even think twice as she allowed him entrance. She loved him like this. When he stopped worrying and just let himself feel. She pushed her hips against his as her hand kept pumping him and then groaned when she felt one hand move under her short and press her against her. The other settling against her breast.

“Daniel,” she breathed, wiggling her hips trying to get his fingers where she wanted him. 

Immediately they separated, and Vala kneeled up on the floor, as both of their hands went straight to divulging her of the denim that was already slipping down her hips. Together they pushed them down her thighs, and Vala hissed out when she felt Daniel’s lips press just under her belly button. Her hands curled around his shoulders, probably making half moon marks on his skin.

Damn, if she ever thought she wouldn’t miss him and this, this moment would have just proven her wrong. 

“No foreplay, not tonight,” she said, leaning down and kissing him again. 

He nodded under her hands and grasping her hips, pulled her down onto him. 

It was a little painful, she wasn’t as ready as she should have been, but bugger-it-all, it just felt so good. They had missed each other for long that it didn’t matter how imperfect the moment was, it was right for them. 

Vala felt Daniel’s hands pushing her hair back from her face and opened her eyes. He was looking at her with that look that always made her feel too much and so she did the only thing she could at that moment: she smiled and rolled her hips. 

Daniel moaned and pushed back against her, and everything blurred. Her bikini top was loose under her shirt, her shorts  and bikini bottom were dangling by one foot and the floor was killing her knees, but Daniel was warm and moving under her, his lips were sucking a love bite to her chest and his hand were keeping her tight against his chest. 

It was overwhelming, it was a little uncomfortable and she loved every minute of her it.

And then Daniel’s hand moved between their bodies, his thumb pressing against her clit in exactly the right way and Vala could feel the edges of her orgasm as it began building up. Lifting herself up on Daniel, she clenched her muscles as she pushed back down and let her head fall forward against his as she came. His hands were gripping her hips as he kept thrusting up into her and she knew he had come when his lips attached themselves to her neck and she felt her name kissed against her skin. 

Coming down from her high, Vala chuckled against Daniel’s cheek. 

Clearly, they just shouldn’t hang out in any archives anymore. 


	8. Chapter 8

Daniel was inwardly chastising himself. He had just slept with his wife— _ex-wife_! He just slept with his ex-wife in a church for god's sake, and as they searched for the _Odisea’s_ headstone, he hated that all he was thinking about was doing it again. 

After their moment in the archives of the church, Vala had climbed off of him pressing a kiss to his cheek, before fixing her clothes. 

“Well, that wasn’t part of the plan,” she smiled, looking down at him as he pulled his own shorts back on, reaching for his discarded shirt.

“Vala.” 

“Can’t say it wasn’t great though, and we never did have break up sex,” she rattled on and Daniel knew this was classic Vala. She didn’t want to deal with the implications of what had just happened between them, and to be perfectly honest, he didn’t really feel like it either. So, he went along with it. 

Standing, he rolled his shoulders, hearing the bones pop— floor sex wasn’t glamourous as it used to be. “We should head up to the cemetery.” 

Vala had looked over at him, partly in relief that he was letting their situation rest for now, and partly in excitement. Neither of them had forgotten what was waiting for them up there. 

“Yes, let’s go, darling,” she had exclaimed, already half way out of the room.

Now, after a good ten minutes of searching around the cemetery, both of them were feeling their patience wearing thin. They still hadn’t found the headstone and the sun had long set, leaving them only with old flashlights and moonlight. Not an ideal situation and he was exhausted. Not to mention he had just had sex in a church and was planning to dig up a grave. He was sure he was going to hell after tonight. 

At least he’d be in good company.

“Vala, have you found anything?” he called out, rubbing at his tired eyes. 

“Not a bloody thing, stupid bloody cemetery!” she growled, kicking at the ground. Even from where he was, across the cemetery, he heard the sound of her foot connecting with something. 

“BLOODY FUCKING HELL, I HATE THIS PLACE!” she yelled to the skies, dropping to the ground, cradling her foot to her chest.

“I’m almost positive that’s sacrilegious,” he joked, wincing when he caught the look she gave him. Sighing, Daniel stood and turn to make his way toward her. “Vala. Vala, come on let me take a look,” he coaxed as she glared at him.

“No,” she muttered, giving the rock that tripped her the stink eye. 

Daniel rolled his eyes, and went to lift up the rock when Vala’s eye grew wide. 

“Daniel, stop!” 

Immediately, he did, and cursed his action. The rocked weighed a good twenty pounds in his arms and Vala wasn’t letting him put it down.

“Vala,” he gritted out, “there better be a good reason for this.”

Vala’s eyes moved from they had been on the rock, and lock onto to his. “Just look here,” she brushed her hand over the rough surface of the rock facing her so Daniel had to tilt his head to get a good look at what she was taking about. 

There, etched on the surface was one word. 

 _Odisea_. 

They had found the grave.

—

Immediately after they realised they had found the grave of the _Odisea_ , Vala had rushed to the shed by the side of the church and came back with a shovel. Now Daniel watched as she perched herself on the vespa as he took his turn at digging. They had been digging for the past twenty minutes and so far had nothing to show for it except for a giant hole in the middle of a cemetery. 

He was sure that Father Bratac would never let them stand on this ground again. 

Grunting, he shovelled out another portion of dirt, expect this time instead of meeting more soft ground, they heard the metal of the shovel connect with something distinctly solid. 

“Daniel?” Vala questioned as she hopped off the vespa. 

He didn’t bother to answer her as he crouched down and began pushing the dirty away with his hands. Soon he felt worn wood under his palm

“It’s a barrel.” 

“Well, let’s open it, darling?” 

“Yeah, lets.” 

 

Inside the chest was collection of items that Daniel could already catalogue as historically priceless. But the thing he focused on was the small leather bound journal, it’s pages yellow with age and its ink so light that even with the flash light, it was a struggle to make out the words. He pulled out of the collection of small jewels and flipped it open.

“To my everlasting relief, after years of toil on this lonely place, I have finally stumbled upon a suitable place for my cargo. Fortified by nature against the encroachments accidental or deliberate of those who have forced their tongues to betray this trust. The low December tide shows the only way in and the only way out. From January to November the beached whale’s spout blocks all, thus the vault is rendered virtually impenetrable. This is the key to infinite treasure.” He read, translating the Spanish on the page as he spoke.

 

Next to him, Vala questioned, “The beached whale’s spout? Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, _la sopladura de la ballena varada sera la llave de un tesoro infinito_ ,” Daniel repeated the original text. 

Slowly he watched as Vala face lit up and her lips curled only slightly at their corner, “It’s a blowhole.” She spoke quietly, like she couldn’t believe that the answer was that simple. 

And Daniel knew exactly which blowhole she was talking about, “It’s the one at Cliffton point.” 

“It has to be. The low December tide…that’s the winter solstice and the water drops so low,” 

“That the mouth of the blowhole, which is normally under fifteen-twenty feet of water is visible to the naked eye.”

Suddenly both of them understood just how Orlin and his crew managed to hide the Queen’s Dowry, because except for those few days out of the year, nobody would be able to even suspect that in that small cave under the water, could anyone manage to survive fitting a treasure of its size. Unless they knew to wait, and Orlin had. 

The smiles that Daniel and Vala rewarded each other matched, and Vala whispered, almost reverently, “Did we just find our treasure.” 

“Sounds like you did indeed.”

The answer didn’t come from either of them, and they both turned to see Baal, Jarran, and Kanan stroll up behind them.

—

Vala felt her spine stiffen at Baal’s voice and she shared a worried look with Daniel as they stood up to face the intruders. Plastering a smile on her face she greeted the group, “Hello, Baal. What bring you around here at this time of night?” 

Baal lifted one eyebrow, “Give me the book, Vala.” 

Vala grabbed the book from Daniel, giving him a look, and shrugged, “Come on, Baal, are you sure you don’t want to give to the _new guy_!” And as she spoke those last words she launched the book at Kanan’s face, making him stumble back, the gun he had pointed at them going off in the air. Vala then chose to tackle the fallen man as Daniel, behind her, reached down and picked up the shovel, swinging it and hitting Jarran in the stomach. 

As he made contact, Jarran stumbled and tripped into Baal, who fell to the ground. 

Vala was too busy trying to connect her fist with Kanan’s face that she missed this, but she could hear as Baal and Jarran stood up and keep advancing on Daniel.

Kanan took her momentary distraction to flip them over and Vala gritted her teeth against his grip on her wrist, lifting her knee up to connect with a very delicate area. As Kanan rolled to the side in pain, Vala scrambled up from the ground and rushed to the vespa. 

“Daniel! Come on!” she yelled, as she watch him move to hit Baal, who ducked, saving himself from some plastic surgery.

Rushing over to her, Daniel tossed her the shovel, and moved to take the seat as Kanan stood up and went to grab for his gun. She jumped on behind him and with one last well placed swing, she hit Jarran square in the face as they rushed down the hill as fast the vespa would take them. 

They weren’t even twenty feet away when they felt the air pressure change and Kanan’s shots starting to connect with the trees around them. 

Vala pressed herself against Daniel, urging him to go faster and the bark of tree exploded next to them. They were getting farther from Baal and his men by the second but in no way did that mean they were safe yet. Leaves and branches were whipping around their faces and Vala could feel their scratches on her arms. Looking back to make sure that they had a suitable amount of distance between themselves and Baal, she heard Daniel’s warning for her to duck a little too late. 

The next thing Vala knew she was on the ground, her head aching and in front of her, Daniel was losing control of the vespa.

“Daniel!” she screamed, rushing to where he was weaving between the trees when she heard him scream as he went over the cliff they had been riding by. 

Shocked, Vala couldn’t move as she felt the warmth of the fire from the explosion of the vespa against the rock face. She began moving towards it, because this couldn’t be it, Daniel couldn’t be dead and she sure as hell wasn’t going to allow him to be. Before she could take another step forward a hand curled over her shoulder and forced her back.

Kanan. 

And right behind him, with a smile on his face, was Baal.

—

At the bottom of the cliff in the small pool of water, Daniel surfaced. From above he could hear Vala’s cursing as Baal and his men dragged her away. 

Looking at his surrounding, he knew there was only one thing left for him to do. 

Now, he just needed to get to the nearest phone. 

Swimming to the shore, he barely took a second to catch his breath before he raced towards the town.

—

Vala was being dragged to Cliffton Point, were she could see the blowhole spouting its water toward the sky. Part of her still felt numb. Daniel…

He couldn’t be gone. It was just wrong, unbelievable. She rejected this reality.

As the group of three reached the blowhole, Baal being too comfortable of a man to even consider making the trek across the jetty, Kanan turned to Vala as the waves crashed against the rocks behind him. 

“After this wave, you have about thirty seconds…” he instructed, as Jarran handed Vala a large underwater flashlight, probably so she could see down there.

Narrowing her eyes at the tall man, she couldn’t believe it. Did they honestly expected her to go down there, after they had just possibly attributed to her husband’s death. They had to be insane, and she? She was not amused. 

Gripping the flashlight, she turned to Jarran and hit him over the head with it. He stumbled to the ground and Vala turned to Kanan, when she saw the gun he had pointed at her. From the ground, Jarran groaned, and the blowhole released its water again.

“Get in the hole,” he ordered, tossing the rope he had over his shoulder to her. 

“Fuck off,” Vala spat at him, but knew that at the moment she had no other choice. Taking the rope, she tied it around her waist and began making her descent down the blowhole. The rock was jagged and slippery, making the situation even more precarious than the guns she had pointed at her, but Vala managed to make her way down without killing herself. She was about twenty feet down when she reached the water, and taking a look at her surroundings, she saw no gold. Only small hermit crabs and seaweed. 

“It’s not here!” she shouted back up. 

“Check underwater!” Kanan’s response was followed by the splash of a mask. 

“I already told you, THERE’S NOTHING BUT ROCK, ARE YOU DEAF!” she screamed, her anger finally coming out. These men had tried to kill her multiple times already and Daniel, they had… She had had it. “IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME, GET YOUR SORRY ASSES DOWN HERE, YOU LAPDOG.”

She could only hear some muffled arguing, when suddenly the rest of the rope slashed next to her and with wide eyes, she stared up where Kanan’s face was smirking down at her.

“YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN,” she yelled, just as the water in the hole began converging again for another release. She had to get herself out of here. If the water released when she was still here, the pressure itself would smack her not so pleasantly into the rocks and push her body up, quite possibly ripping it apart. Grabbing at the mask and rope, she took a breath and dived down under the water, unaware that back at the top Kanan and Jarran were battle with each other over where or not she should be saved. 

Under the water, she followed the cavern, hoping to find an exit or at the very least a place where to secure herself with the rope. As she swam, she turned a small corner and almost let go of the precious air in her lungs, as she came face to face with a stack of chests. 

 _The Queen’s Dowery_.

Sadly, there was no time to revel in the fact that she and Daniel had discovered the find of the century, because she could see the wave of water rushing at her. Moving forward, she secured herself against one the cannons that still resided in the cavern and gripped it with all her strength as water rushed all around her.

She didn’t notice that she dislodged a chest and that it was currently floating towards the blowhole, the water pushing it upwards.  
— 

Topside, Kanan and Jarran’s moment re-enacting a scene form the OK Coral came to an end as gold coins littered over them as the blowhole released its secret. 

—

As soon as the wave of water was over, Vala swam back to the blowhole’s tide pool, taking a deep breath when she broke the surface. Hearing Kanan on the phone, she plastered herself against the rock wall, hoping they wouldn’t see her. This would all work better if they thought she was dead and until she could figure out a way out of this mess. 


	9. Chapter 9

Finally back in town, Daniel reached the closest pay phone and dialed the only number that came to mind.

—

On the _Homer_ , Jack groaned as his cell phone rang. Ready to read the riot act at whatever moron was on the other side of the call, he flipped his cell open, “This better be fucking important.” 

“Jack, Baal has Vala. They’re at Cliffton Point. It’s the blowole, Jack.” 

And like that, Jack was out of bed, calling Sam up and ordering her to get a hold of Mitchell. 

—

Baal landed his seaplane offshore and watched as Kanan and Jarran suited up to search the mouth of the blowhole. Holding a giant emerald in his hand, his smile grew colder and wider.

—

Fifty yards way, Vala was really starting to reconsider her love for the ocean, as she made the trip between the cavern and the blowhole for the third time.

This was not how this adventure was supposed to go.

—

Back on the _Gateship_ , Cameron was being followed Rodney, Carson and Carolyn. Five minutes ago Cam got a call from Sam, and four minutes ago he left Carolyn’s room ready to leave and save his friends. Three minutes ago he called Tealc and told him meet them half way. And now he was on his way to meet with John and Landry on the lower deck. Rodney was griping about the rescue, while Carson was fretting over Vala. Carolyn silent by his side.

Next to the small motor boat that Landry was letting them borrow, Jack was already ordering everyone around.

Making his way down, he nodded to Jack, who wordlessly handed him a shotgun. 

“Ready, Mitchell.” 

“Five minutes ago, sir.”

As he stepped onto the boat, he heard Carolyn behind him, “I’m going too.” 

Cameron and Landry turned to her in worried shock, but she just brushed past them, a look of determination in her eyes. “They might need a doctor.” 

It looked like Jack was about to argue with Carolyn, but one look from her had him closing his mouth and that’s how Cameron knew that Carolyn was going with them. 

Next to him, Landry looked worried, but didn’t argue as they stepped onto the boat.

—

Daniel raced down to Cliffton Point calling out Vala’s name. He swore that if Baal did anything to her, he wouldn’t care about the consequences, Baal was going to regret it.

—

As Vala dived back down for the seventh time and held on as the water pushed around her, she noticed something different when this wave was over. On the other side off the cavern, two figures where making their way closer to her. It was Kanan and Jarran. 

Carefully, she immediately began to move back to the blow hole, and hope they wouldn’t notice her. Or that the next wave would crush their bones— she wasn’t picky. 

Gulping the air, like she had the last seven times, Vala knew that she couldn’t dive back under again, without them seeing her. Pressing her palms to her closed eyes, she forced herself to think of a plan, any plan that would get her out of here. And then she heard it. 

“VALA!” 

Thinking that she finally snapped under all the pressure, Vala shook her head, telling herself she had to be imagining the voice when she heard it again. This time closer.

“Vala!” 

“DANIEL?”

As his name left her lips, she knew she wasn’t imagining anyhitng. Daniel was still alive! Laughing, she called out to him again, “I’m down here!"

When his face appeared at the top of the blow hole, Vala suddenly felt a weight lift off her shoulders. They might just get out of this all right, after all. 

—

From his seaplane, Baal noticed the figure running across the Point. 

Vala’s husband. 

Well, this would not do, he thought, and pulled out his gun. He hated using firearms, so archaic, but sometimes there was no other choice.

Aiming at the running man, he fired.

— 

Daniel felt as a rock exploded next to him and ducked down as he ran to the blowhole. Two more shots whizzed past his head.

“Vala!” 

“DANIEL?” he heard muffled by the rocks. “I’m down here!” 

Making his way to the opening of the blowhole he looked down to see Vala, looking like a drowned dog and yelling up at him. 

“Vala?” He watched as she seemed to be struggling with something he couldn’t see and got ready to jump down after her.

“Daniel, they found me!” 

And then she disappeared under water.

—

Just as Daniel’s face came into view above her, she felt someone tug at her rope. Pulling against the force that was trying to propel her back underwater, she clawed her way back to the surface and yelled, “Daniel, they found me!” 

Being pulled under water was not what Vala called fun, she could attest to it now. Gripping the rope, she pulled against the hold that she now could see Kanan was fighting her for. As he tugged her forward, she set her mouth and clawed at his face. Feeling her fingers brush against his air nozzle, she reached again as he pushed at her, and this time pulled the nozzle away from his face.

The air bubbles from the nozzle filled the water between them and due to his sudden lack of air, Kanan flailed under the water. Vala took no chances and pushed him against the rock wall behind him. He bounced off the wall and then swam back toward her, this time pulling out the knife he had attached at his waist. Behind her mask, Vala narrowed her eyes as he approached her, her fingers curling around the flashlight she still had. 

As he lifted his arm to strike at her she did the same. 

And then he was pulled away and Vala could see Daniel’s body behind Kanan. While both men struggled to get the upper hand, she took the opportunity to grab at Kanan’s knife and stick it in his thigh. 

In Daniel’s arms the man screamed a gurgle of water, and she watched as Daniel pushed him away, pulling off the air tank from Kanan’s body. Like he was reading her mind, or maybe because he needed the air as much as she did, Daniel brought the air nozzle to her lips and Vala sucked in a deep breath; her lungs filling with much needed oxygen. After a few second she handed it back to Daniel when she saw that the next wave of water was coming. 

Pulling Daniel towards her and the cannon, Vala gripped at a metal barrel, as Daniel’s arms tightened around her waist. The water surged forward and she could feel Daniel’s arm holding on for dear life. Behind them she was vaguely conscious that Kanan, still struggling with the knife at his thigh, got caught up in the wave.

Vala couldn’t bring herself to care.

—

At the seaplane, Baal watched as Jarran surfaced, holding a chest. 

Taking the chest away from the man, he frowned, “Where’s Kanan?”

Baal got his answer as the blowhole released its water, and this time, there was a very obvious red tint to it.

—

Back in the cavern, Daniel spun in the water to face Vala. Her dark hair was loose and floating around her face, but he could see the relief in her eyes. He understood that well; part of him had been afraid that when he arrived to the Point, Vala would be dead. Pulling her to him, he pressed his lips to her hair, as he turned to the mouth of the cavern. 

He didn’t make it far, as Vala pulled him back. She was now wearing the vest and air tank that he wrestled away from Kanan, and he wondered what was wrong. They had enough air, didn’t they? 

He tried to communicate this with his eyes, when Vala turned him toward the back of the cavern. 

He had been so preoccupied before. With Vala, Kanan, fighting for their life, that he hadn’t taken where they were. Hadn’t really cared, but as Vala pulled off her mask and handed it to him, Daniel felt a rush go up his spine. With the mask settled over his eyes, he looked at the area that Vala was pointing at and felt his eyes grow wide, grateful that he had worn his contacts last night when he and Vala had left the yacht to go to the church. 

In front of him there had to be at least twenty wooden chests roped to about three canons, and Daniel would bet what little money he had left that all of those canons would say _Odisea_.

Looking over to Vala, he watched her nod and smiling they began swimming out. 

The feeling of elation lasted about a second as the watched Jarran heading towards them, and holy shit, was that a spear gun? 

—

Jack felt like pushing the rookie captain of the suit’s yacht off the controls. If they were letting him drive, they’d all ready be a Cliffton Point, and have Daniel and Vala secure. 

Stupid fucking kids, with their stupid fucking theories. Didn’t they know they could get killed? Pulling his hat off and running a hand through his hair, he cursed both of the, because he was sure that tonight after he got back home and looked in the mirror, all the fucking brown he still had would be gone. 

It was then that Cameron called out, “There’s Baal’s plane!” 

Jack looked over to where the man was pointing and there in the water was the yellow eyesore. Settling his lucky hat over his head, he gripped the Winchester he had in his lap.

Without a second thought, he stood and fired a round at the plane. Baal stumbled, gripping onto his door, and Jack fired again. He could hear Cameron tell Carolyn to duck and cover.

This time Baal fired back, and Cameron stood, shooting his own round at the man. As Jack lined up his next shot, he noticed something moving in the water. Focusing, he made out the shape of a man. Had to be one of Baal's moronic henchmen.

“Mitchell!” he yelled over the sound of the speed boat and gun fire.

“Yeah?” 

“In the water, now!” He pointed to the figure in the water knew that Cameron understood what he meant. The boy had been a SEAL like him after all. Jack watched as Cameron handed his gun to Landry, and dived into the water after who it was down there threatening their friends. 

Jack turned back to the plane and fired another shot. A second later a shot was fired from his right and he looked over to see the suit, Lanrdry, holding the rifle to his shoulder. 

Not bad for a suit.

— 

Under the water, Cam kept his eyes on the figure swimming in front of him. As he swam forward, the figure, Jarran he recognised by the hair, must have felt the change in the water around him or something because he turned to Cameron and freaked out. Cam pushed forward when he saw Jarran pull the trigger of the spear gun.

SONOABITCH.

There was no way to avoid it, he knew that, so he didn’t and a second later, pain shot up his leg as the spear was now going through his leg. This was not how he planned to spend his morning. Forty minutes ago, he had woken up next to a naked Carolyn Lam-Landry, and his plan for the morning had involved a repeat of what had gotten them into bed the night before. 

Not this shit. 

Noticing the line still attached to the spear, that connected back to the gun, Cameron gritted his teeth against the pain he felt in his leg and wrapped his hand around the line, pulling with all his strength. He watched as Jarran’s eyes grew wide at the unforeseen development and trying to get away. 

 _Not today, Sonny-Jim_ , Cameron thought as he pulled Jarran towards him and ripped the spear gun away. 

Jarran tried to turn back and get away, when on his other side, he was face with the very angry face of Vala. Cameron watched as his best friend planted a right hook against Jarran’s face and mask. The man was pushed back against Cam, who elbowed him in the throat. As Jarran lost his air nozzle, he gasped for air and moved away from them. 

Cam then felt someone tap his shoulder and turned to see Daniel, who was holding a tank and air nozzle to him. Gratefully, Cam took the offered air and the three of them began to surface.

—

Baal ducked against the door of his plane as Jack O’Neill shot at him again. He cursed the day he hired the man. Grasping the sides of the treasure chest that Jarran had brought up; he decided it was time to get out of this place, there were more bullets and guns aimed at him than he would have preferred.

 Moving to get back into the plane, he slipped on the large skis attached to it as three bodies surfaced by them. Immediately recognising Vala’s dark head of hair, he gripped at it and pulled up. Her yell did nothing to bother him.

He had just witness what her friends would do to get her back--she would be the perfect collateral. 

—

Vala struggled against the grip on her hair and tried to kick herself away as Baal pulled her up. Cameron tried to keep her in the water, as did Daniel, but with one of them injured and the other bogged down by the water tank, they fumbled to keep a solid grip on her. 

As Baal pulled her up and out of the water, she made a last attempt to reach at Daniel with no avail. The last thing she saw before Baal successfully pulled her into the plane was Daniel’s eyes.

—

Daniel watched as Vala was pulled from him and onto the plane. A second later Baal started the plane and he could feel it move away from him.

In that instance he decided he was not letting Vala go today. Again.  

Throwing the tank to Mitchell he lifted himself up onto the skis attached to the plane, and gripped the back pole that connected to the wing. He heard Mitchell yell after him, but he didn’t pay him any attention because the plane had just left the water and fuck, he had no idea what to do next. 

The only thing to do was make it to the door.

He didn’t notice the bullet holes on the side of the plane, or the liquid that was leaking from them.

— 

Inside the plane, Vala struggled in her seat against Baal, who kept trying to push her back. Eyeing the floor, she noticed one of the large emeralds from the Dowry, and lunged for it. Baal tried to beat her hand away from it, but the hold she had it in was so tight that the built up sand and coral around the gem bit into her skin. 

Vala then proceeded to use the heavy stone as weapon as she connected it with Baal’s head. The man yelled out in pain as she managed to hit him across the mouth, and then used the momentary distraction to elbow him in the nose. His bounced against the seat and she struck him once again. This time Baal slumped against the door, unconscious and Vala suddenly noticed that nobody was flying the plane, when the door opened. 

Out of all the people Vala expected to see at that door, in mid flight no less, Daniel was most definitely the second to last one. The last one being her father, the jerk. 

Daniel took one look at the situation in the plane and then pulled Baal’s unconscious body from his seat, letting the man fall down to the ocean. Well, she wasn’t about to argue about that! 

Still, that posed an important question.

“Daniel, what are you doing here?!” Vala screamed as she grabbed hold of the plane's controls.

“Trying to rescue you, again!” He answered back, as he settled in the now vacated seat. 

Vala laughed, as the controls vibrated in her hands. “Brilliant work, darling, and just how in the world were you planning to do that?”

“I don’t know.” Daniel frowned, looking over the dashboard at the ocean below them as the plane shook. “Uh, Vala, baby? When you learn to fly a plane, darling?" Daniel turned to her, his eyes reflecting her shock and disbelief as he watched her hold the plane as steady as possible.

She didn't know whether to be in shock or to laugh at the use of baby outside the bedroom. She chose laughter, "I don't know how! Cameron bought Flight Simulator last month and made me play!" 

“Remind me to tell Cam I love him,” Daniel laughed and leaned over kissing her temple as she tried to direct the plane back to the water.

"Now you can't say the Playstation was a bad investment!" She looked out the window at the blue water under them and turned back to her husband (the ex having been dropped off sometime around the second kiss in the library, maybe before).

Then Daniel decided to ruin the moment by asking, "Did he teach you to land?" 

"Um..." 

"Vala!" He screamed, this time decidedly not amused.

Vala closed her eyes and tried to remember what she learned in the game, but considering every time she tried to land in the game those mean red letters would spell out “GAME OVER”. But she had a feeling that Daniel wouldn’t want to hear that that. So, she went with plan D. (A-C were useless since they involved having a licensed pilot at the controls.)

“All right Daniel, what we have do now is stall out before we hit the water,” she tried to explain her her most soothing voice. One look at him, she could tell he wasn’t buying it.

“What do you mean, stall out?” 

“We have to stop before we hit the water, and then, ideally glide to a stop.” 

“Ideally?” 

“Well, I’ve never done it before, Daniel.” 

Daniel shook his head and then reached over to cup her cheek and kissed her, “Vala, if we die, I just want you to know that I wished I hadn’t divorced you and that this is all your fault.” 

Vala laughed, kissing him back, “If we live, I don’t care if we get married again. Living in sin is much more fun.” 

Daniel smiled, curling his hand around hers on the controls, “Deal.” 

It was then Vala knew, that whether they made it or not, they’d be okay, and so she started to direct the plane back to the water. As they made her descent she could feel the controls shudder in her hands more violently, her feet slowly working the pedals. She could see the water getting closer and the controls and plane shaking more and more. Daniel’s hands tightened over hers and she turned to face him. 

“Daniel…” 

“I know, Vala.” 

And then they skimmed the water, once, twice, three times before the shaking of the controls got to be too much for either of them, and they lost control. 

—

Back on the boat, Jack watched as the seaplane that held Daniel and Vala lost control as they hit the water. Next to him, Carolyn buried her face into Cameron’s shoulder, as everyone else around him yelled out. Jack didn’t make a sound, hell, he didn’t even move a muscle, because he couldn’t believe they had all gone through that to watch Daniel and Vala plummet to their deaths in the ugliest yellow thing he had ever seen. 

The plane had broken off into pieces as it hit the water and Jack knew that the odds of them surviving were slim, but if it was one thing that Daniel and Vala always did, it was defying the odds. 

Steeling himself, he was about to order this captain Sheppard to the plane when a white speed boat with the name “Millennium Falcon” sped past them.

Tealc had made it. 

—

Under the water Daniel could see the bits and pieces of the plane on the surface. When the hit the water, the plane had literally broken apart around them, and they both had been thrown from their seats into the water. Not for the first time in his life, hell, not for the first time in twenty-four hours Daniel thanked whatever deity he owed for this as he swam up to the surface.

Air never tasted so good, and immediately he looked around for the only thing he cared about seeing at the moment. 

“VALA! Vala!” 

From behind him he heard a laugh he knew better than his own, “I’m right here, darling. No need to yell.” Turning in the water, Daniel had to smile as his eyes feel on his wife (the ex didn’t even matter anymore) as she was perched over the edge of Tealc’s speed boat and moving closer to him.

“Need some assistance, Daniel Jackson?” Tealc intoned, already extending his hand out to Daniel. 

Daniel gripped the outstretched hand and felt himself being pulled out the water. The second that his feet touched the floor of the boat, Vala was at his side, her fingers brushing by the cut on his forehead he just realised he had. 

“Guess what darling?” she smiled, her cheek warm against his. 

“What?” 

“We are so getting published.”

Daniel laughed, turning to press a kiss against the side of her mouth. “I know.” 

 

 _Epilogue_

 _Ten Months Later_

 

Jack frowned at his watch. He was going to kill those two. Beside him, Sam was cheerfully sipping champagne, laughing along with John Sheppard and Landry's annoying chef--Rod or something--at their stories of the excavations as if she hadn't been there herself, Cameron was flirting with Carolyn Landry as the norm now, and Tealc was sharing recipes with Landry's other chef. Teyla, the only sane one of the bunch, was by the bar chatting with Radek about law permits. All in all it meant the Daniel and Vala left him floating in hide tide with a bunch of geeks and flirts, the traitors. 

"Hey, Jack, where are the guests of honour?" Elizabeth asked as she came up to him, sending a friendly smile over to Sam and Sheppard. The latter sending a roguish smile Elizabeth’s way, which made Jack internally gag.

"If you're talking about Vala and Daniel--" 

"I am."

"--I don't have a clue. Those two fruitcakes are probably finding themselves another set of problems as I speak." 

Elizabeth laughed, "Yes, they would be."

—

"VALA!" Daniel yelled as he checked his watched, stumbling out of their small bed, looking around for his glasses. He found them on the dresser, probably where Vala had put them because he was sure he had fallen asleep with them on last night.

"I'm topside, darling!" 

Rolling his eyes, made his way through the narrow passage of their new boat, grabbing a cup of coffee from the kitchen counter as he climbed the steps that would lead him outside. On deck, by the main sail, Vala stood clad in her shorts and one of his shirts, her hair blowing in the wind and a happy look in her eyes. 

"You know we're supposed to be at the opening of the _Odisea's_ exhibit at the Museum in about twenty minutes," he grinned, wrapping on arm loosely around Vala's waist as she steered the Hunter sailboat that they had bought a few months ago. The reveal of the _Odisea_ had garnered them some fame, especially in the Keys and archaeological circles (Nick called from  Peru to congratulate them and invite them down--they had accepted, but only after the exhibition at the museum was done--it was not as if Walter or Radek would let them leave earlier), and paired up with Landry funding their excavation, well, money didn't seem to be a problem for them anymore. Even though, just to be on the safe side they decided to let Elizabeth and Teyla manage their accounts.

They now split their time between living on the boat, _Shell Game_ , and the apartment they still had above Tealc's. The apartment where they should have headed back to last night, if it hadn't been for some distractions after dinner, so they could be getting ready for the opening of the _Orlin Dessala and the Odisea_ exhibit they managed to get together for the Martime Museum in conjunction with the Martime Museum in Barcelona where half the exhibition would be moving to after six months in the Keys, as the Spanish did still indeed partially and historically own their findings. As it was Daniel and Vala were still a good fifty miles of the coast of Key West, laying the ground work for their new pet project. ( _El Destino_ ; a Portuguese ship lost in the 1600's, holding what was to be rumoured a vast cargo of prized text and gold.)

Vala just looked over her shoulder and kissed his check, "Yes, but I was looking at the radar and noticed a very interesting looking shadow I thought we should check out."

She pointed to the screen and Daniel felt his eyebrows raise in curiosity. They had been scouting this area for a good two weeks now and this was the first lead they had. Looking back at Vala, he could tell that she was already on board. 

"We can be late," he grinned.

"And really, with Cameron, Jack, Sam, and Landry there, we'd just be standing around looking bored and trying to sneak off." Spinning the wheel, Vala began moving them closer to the shadow and Daniel cupped her chin, turning her to face him for a kiss, before going to lower the sails again. 

 

FIN.


End file.
